When We Were Young
by 3DarkLove3
Summary: Sasuke Uchiha: the lone avenger. But with a blonde idiot, a pink-haired kunoichi, a perveted sensei, another team, and a girl with a secret past, can he stay that way? Starting from the beginning at the academy with a few added characters. Sasuke/OC
1. Enter Kaiya Hakura!

**A/N- okay, this is my first story on FF net, so I'm still trying to figure out how to add chaps and every thing. I know, pathetic. ANYWAYS, let me get this straight:**

**I own NOTHING...besides Kaiya Hakura and Team Three. OK? Ok. **

**READ ON!**

**Oh, and every chapter starts off in Kaiya's Pov, first person (using words like I, my, mine, etc, etc)**

Chapter One: Enter Kaiya Hakura!

All around me, there was darkness. Nothing, besides the thumping of my heart, could be heard. I took two tentative steps into the darkness, hoping to find some other living being within the black of this place. My steps echoed off the non-existent walls and the noise came back to me, sounding like an earthquake to my ears.

And no, that is not a fat joke.

I yelped as something slithered over my foot, sending eerie shivers up and down my spine, causing my whole body to tremble. I continued on through the darkness and with each step, the temperature seemed to drop at least two degrees, until it was so cold I could see my own breath coming out in puffs. I hugged myself tightly. And, as if I had set off a booby trap like in Indiana Jones, the floor below me gave way. The only solid thing, which had kept me standing upright and somewhat calm, dissolved and I screamed as the blackness swallowed me whole.

With a gasp, I shot up in bed and looked around my room. I let out a relieved sigh.

It was only a nightmare. I still wasn't used to the common nightmares I have been having for the past three months. Of course, they changed every few weeks, but even so, they all only starred one person; Kaiya Hakura, aka, me.

I looked over at my alarm clock; 5:30 A.M.

I mustered some choice words and got out of bed slowly, getting ready for the day. I walked across my floor, which was covered with dirty clothes, scrolls, books, and weapons. The scrolls were obviously for the academy, for studying history and math, things like that. The books were, mostly, fiction and fantasy, my escapes as I liked to call them. I threw open my closet and grabbed my usual training outfit; a red tank top that revealed a little stomach. My black shorts that hung at my hips only came to about mid thigh, but they weren't tight at all; they were comfortably baggy. I quickly got dressed, completing the look with my netting arm warmers and blue ninja sandals. Strapping my weapons pouch on my right thigh, I took a quick look in my vanity. My long, sandy-brown hair was messy and uncombed. I hopped into the bathroom and did my routine; brushed my teeth and hair, peed, put on deodorant and placed my brown hair into a messy bun while side sweeping my bangs to the left. I walked out of the bathroom and into the living room, grabbing an apple from the coffee table before sprinting out of the apartment.

Today was the day I was not going to be late. Of course, I always said that and ended up being fifteen minutes late, causing an irritated Iruka to blow up in my face. I took a bite out of my apple, letting a smug smile tug at my lips.

But I _knew_ I wasn't going to be late today because I got up a half hour earlier than usual. And why did I do this ludicrous action? Because today was the day I got put into my team; the day I graduate and officially become a Genin. My excitement was probably noticeable on my face as the academy came into clear view. I walked into the building causally, noticing how no one else was in the halls yet. That was either 1) good, because I was early, or 2) bad, because I was late.

_There's no possible way I'm late! And if I am, than I am never ever EVER trying to be on time again, _I thought, panic rising in my throat like bile. I jogged down the hall and skidded into my classroom, looking at the empty desks. Well, a few desks were occupied with early risers, but _most_ of the desks (the desks were sane people sat) were unoccupied. I released a sigh and walked to the desk beside my lazy friend, Shikamaru Nara. I also called him Deer-Boy when he got on my nerves, which was when he called me Troublesome or Temperamental, whatever _that_ means. Just because I may be weird, hot-headed, and commonly hard to predict, he thinks it means that I'm troublesome. The jerk.

"Hey Shika!" I stated, plopping down next to him tiredly. He mumbled a response, so I rolled my eyes. He was half-asleep, which meant that I better just leave him alone. I looked around at the other earlier risers, realizing that a certain raven-haired boy was sitting in front of me. Yawning, I tapped him on the shoulder.

"Hey, Uchiha, why are you here so early?" I asked curiously. The lone survivor of the Uchiha Clan looked back at me with his usual emotionless stare. But it doesn't faze me, like most people.

"Why are you?" he replied, semi-coldly. I thought for a second, than it hit me. I beamed.

"OH! Because, I knew that if I was late today, I would probably miss my name and Team…and Iruka would probably eat me." I answered; proud that he noticed my early arrival, unlike my lazy-ass friend beside me. Sasuke raised an eyebrow at my response and obvious pride before turning back to the front of the class, muttering 'weird idiot' under his breath. I puffed out my cheeks indignantly before whacking his head mercilessly.

"Shut up, you emo jerk!" I spat as he spun around and gave me a hard glare. I simply smirked in triumph at the look before he turned back around, mumbling curses. I rolled my eyes.

"What're you doing here, Naruto? This is only for graduating students." my table partner drawled. My head shot in the direction of Shika and I saw my best friend standing there talking to Shika, pointing to his new headband proudly.

"Look here, Shikamaru! I _did_ graduate!" Naruto exclaimed in that overly-loud voice of his. I smiled widely and climbed over Shika to hug my friend tightly.

"YAY! YOU GRADUATED, NARUTO!" I cried out as he laughed and hugged me back, twirling me around happily.

"You know it, Kay-chan!" he stated as we pulled away. I climbed back over Shika and sat in my spot, beaming again.

"You're even more troublesome than my mom…" Shika muttered under his breath. Naruto, who was currently sitting next to Uchiha, looked at Shikamaru as I glared viciously.

"Who the hell are you calling troublesome, Deer-boy?" I replied, whacking his head three times. He held his head in pain and scowled at me. I poked my tongue out at him as Naruto laughed.

"You make me laugh, Kay-chan." Naruto told me fondly. I gave him a beaming smile, than scowled at Shika again. He opened his mouth to say something, until a loud noise at the front of the class caught our attention. In the doorway were Ino and Sakura, numero Uno and numero Duos in the Sasuke Fanclub. I raised an eyebrow as they argued over who got in the classroom first, before Sakura spotted her heart-throb. With a twinkle in her eye, she ran over.

"Hi, Sakura-chan—" Naruto started.

"Out of my way!" Sakura hissed, pushing poor Naruto out of her way. I looked at Naruto sadly as he watched Sakura ask to sit next to Sasuke, a black cloud forming over his head. I shook my head.

_You could do so much better, Naruto…_ I thought as Ino waltzed over.

"Hey, _I'm_ sitting next to Sasuke, Billboard Brow!" she exclaimed hotly. Sakura turned to her ex-friend.

"Why would he want to sit next to a pig like you, Ino?" she spat courageously. And the fight commenced, as the silent Uchiha just zoned out. I watched as more girls joined the argument, than tapped Sasuke's shoulder again.

"Don't they ever…well, annoy the living shi—ahem—_crap_ out of you?" I whispered, my eyes still locked on the girls. Sasuke scoffed and turned his attention back to…well…whatever had his attention until I had interrupted his thinking. I smiled lightly, than allowed my mind to zone out as well.

_Wonder what team I'll be on? Better not be any Sasuke-fangirl team. I think I'd—,_ I thought, until I heard the fangirls yelling at Naruto for some reason. I turned my attention to the fangirls, only to have my mouth drop open in shock. Naruto and Sasuke were lip locking…in front of the whole class. I blinked slowly three times until they broke away and began coughing, holding their throats.

"Ugh! Naruto, I'm going to kill you!" Sasuke spat, scowling at the practically suffocating Naruto.

"I'M POISONED!" he exclaimed. And of course, I found the whole thing extremely funny, so I sat behind the two boys, laughing myself into a freaking coma. But the fangirls did not find this little incident as funny as I did. And unfortunately for Naruto, I was laughing way to hard to help him as the girls began to beat him up. The Uchiha turned and glared at me viciously, only causing me to laugh harder.

"Shut up, Hakura." he snapped. I held my stomach in pain as the laughs racked my body uncontrollably.

"I would… if I could…Uchiha." I told him through the laughs. My head began to get fuzzy from lack of oxygen, so I tried to think of sad thoughts in order to stop the fit of laughter.

_Dead puppies…sugar-less world…dieting…family…_

The last thought instantly stopped my laughter, so I took three gulping breaths of air as Iruka walked into the classroom. My happy mood turned sour, I barely listened to him. I did hear a few choice words, like 'abilities' and 'chosen' and 'pay attention Kaiya', but other than that, my mind was completely fazed out of the class. That is, until my name was called.

"Team three: Hakura Kaiya," Iruka called out, "Hiroshi Taru and Rhi Shugo."

I felt my excited demeanor turn into a confused one. I was pretty sure that I didn't know the other people on my team, unless they were in another class.

_There's an advance class for the students who're older and more highly developed than us, so maybe my team's in that class…_I thought with a shrug. It really didn't bother me that much, to be completely honest. As long as I wasn't paired with some fangirl, I was good. Shika nudged me.

"Who're the people on your team?" he whispered as Iruka continued on with the teams. I shrugged.

"I don't know…but whatever. I'll find out soon, I guess." I replied simply. He gave me a smile and turned his attention back to Iruka and, surprisingly enough, so did I.

"Team Seven: Uzumaki Naruto, Haruno Sakura," he announced, causing Naruto to whoop in happiness while Sakura went into a depression, saying she was doomed. "And Uchiha Sasuke."

Now it was Naruto's turn to go into depression while Sakura whooped excitedly, while turning around and giving Ino a victorious sign. I rolled my eyes at the seething Ino.

"I don't get what you see in that guy." Shika muttered. Ino glared at him in disbelief.

"You still don't get it?" she asked. I thought for a second.

"I'm not a girl, so no, I don't." he responded. I held up my hands to intervene.

"But…but I'm a girl!" I exclaimed. Shika nodded.

"And your point is…?" Ino asked impatiently. I huffed at her impatience.

"I'm not all lovey-dovey on Uchiha. That's just a stereotype given to us girls because of the fangirls like you. For your information, Deer-Boy, not every girl here likes Uchiha, thank you very much." I stated clearly for the two on-lookers. I noticed that Sasuke was listening too, but I decided to not point it out as Ino just shook her head.

"But you're so…_ different _from the rest of the girls. So, you don't count, Kaiya." she informed me. My mouth dropped.

That little hog!

"Excuse me, Piggy? Do you want to repeat that?" I asked her threateningly. She just gave me a cold glare and looked at Shikamaru.

"You're so annoying. I would hate to be on your team." she stated in exasperation. I crossed my arms and pouted childishly.

"Team ten: Nara Shikamaru, Yamanaka Ino, and Akimichi Choji." Iruka exclaimed proudly. I saw a smirk cross Shika's lips as he turned to Ino.

"What was that you said about being on my team?" he asked innocently. Ino, who was utterly superficial, was practically crying over the fact that she had a lazy guy and a fat kid on her team. Although, I never called Choji fat; and not because I was afraid he'd flatten me if I did. It was because he was awesome and funny and, just like Naruto, obsessed with a certain type of food. Unlike Naruto, though, Choji liked BBQ, not Ramen. I looked at Ino.

"Choji is not fat. He's _cuddly_, Piggy." I corrected her innocently. She glared at me, but I just ignored her as Iruka explained that we would be meeting our senseis after lunch in this room. He dismissed the class and everyone stood up before rushing out the door. I yawned widely and grabbed a lunch I had Iruka hold for me. I never remembered to bring my own lunch, so I always had Iruka make me one and I'd pay him back by going grocery shopping for him, as well for myself. He smiled at me kindly.

"Well, this is the last lunch I'm going to make for you, seeing as you're now a Genin." he reminded me gently. I looked up at Iruka, than hugged him tightly. I really liked Iruka; he was like a father figure for me.

See, since I was about eight, I've been living in this shabby apartment on the hard part of the Village by myself. My clan was murdered when I was about six and a half, so I've been on my own since then. And I wasn't originally from the Leaf Village; I was from a regular, small, non-important village just outside of the Land of Earth (Village Hidden among the Stones) and when my family was killed, I ran away. By the time I had collapsed of exhaustion, dehydration, and hunger, I was just within the perimeters of the Land of Fire and was brought to the hospital. I was accepted into the village and given a spot at the academy when I had finally healed. Nobody knows about my past or the fact that I have no family, besides the higher ninjas, Naruto, Iruka, and Shika. I hadn't planned on telling Shika, because I was afraid he would treat me as an outcast, but he had asked Iruka where I lived and came over when I was sick once. He didn't offer me crap sympathy, but instead told me that I could come over and visit whenever I wanted. And since then, every Sunday, I go over and have dinner with them, laughing when he complained about his mom being troublesome and his dad being a pushover.

Maybe my past is the reason I don't hate Uchiha, either. I mean, yeah, he's a jerk, but he has a _reason_ to be a jerk. I still get fed up with him, but I know for a fact that all he's trying to do is protect his self, so I just allow him to keep his walls around himself. But, if being on a team with Naruto won't break his barrier, I will try to break them down.

It's my mission, especially when days are boring.

"Thanks Iruka…I'll come by and help out sometime, ok?" I stated happily. He nodded as tears brimmed his eyes lightly and I walked out of the room. I really didn't want to go eat outside because I'll just have to come back here anyway. So, instead, I searched for a small classroom.

"Hm…where to eat, where to eat…" I muttered to myself. But when I past a small classroom, I stopped and walked backwards, looking back inside. A smile spread across my face at the scene that was laid out before me; Sasuke Uchiha, Mr. Big Shot, was tied up with duct tape placed across his mouth securely. He gave me an annoyed look as I snickered.

"So, how's life, Uchiha?" I asked calmly, kneeling down to his level. I laughed when he sent a glare my way, than decided to be nice. Holding my hands up in surrender, I gave him an apologetic look.

"Ok, ok, I'm done." I told him, beginning to untie him. The knots were firm and it took me a while to undo them, but once I had, Sasuke shot up and tore off the duct tape, wincing as he did so.

"That looked painful." I admitted. He shrugged and looked around, searching for something. Once he didn't find it, he turned to me, determination shining in his eyes.

"Where's Naruto?" he asked me. I thought for a second, than a large, cheesy smile crossed my full lips.

"He did this, didn't he?" I stated, holding in my laughs. A curt nod from Sasuke affirmed my suspicions and I snorted.

"I don't know, Uchiha. But I can assure you, he's probably gloating about his triumph over the all-powerful Sasuke Uchiha." I told him calmly, placing my hands behind my head calmly. Sasuke gave me a glare before jumping out of the open window. I rolled my eyes in annoyance and plopped down on the ground, despite the fact that there was a desk over by the window.

"No, really Uchiha, you don't need to thank me…" I muttered, pulling out the rice ball from my paper bag. I began to eat sulkily, thinking about the rude Uchiha. I still don't get what girls see in him.

I mean, yeah, he's good looking, and incredibly talented, but…so what? It's not like that was an amazing achievement; all Uchiha's have had amazing ability. And looks…well, they're just looks. Personality is what _should _matter, but it doesn't sometimes. I finished my rice ball, than pulled out the piece of chocolate cake. I grinned.

_Iruka knows me too well, _I thought fondly, taking a giant bite out of the sweet. Naruto is obsessed with ramen; Choji with BBQ; but **me**? I'm obsessed with sweets.

Of course, until I get a sugar high and the next day have a Sugar Hang-Over. Those always suck.

"Kaiya?" someone asked from the doorway. I turned around and saw Kiba, with little Akamaru, standing there, smiling. The small dog yipped and ran over, jumping into my lap happily as I pet him lovingly. Kiba walked in, a pout set on his face.

"All the girls love the dog; what about me? Don't I deserved to be loved too?" he anime cried dramatically. I laughed, and stood up, letting Akamaru pad onto the floor as I gave his owner a hug.

"Yes, yes, we know! You're so love-deprived." I exclaimed as he gave me a hug back tightly. I pulled away, than grabbed my bag from the floor. I pulled out the mini bottle of water and chugged it in a most un-girly like way. Kiba shook his head as we walked back to the classroom together.

"You're so…not girly." he told me for the umpteenth time. I smiled at him sheepishly before giving off a shrug. We walked into the room and saw half of the class already there. I decided to sit with Kiba, Hinata, and Shino today. I plopped down in a chair carelessly, listening as the students chattered carelessly. My mind wandered.

I thought about my apartment, empty and waiting for me. I winced at the thought of being all alone in my apartment tonight, already hating the sound. I hated living alone; it made me fell so…isolated and lonely. I don't understand how Sasuke can stand not having someone to hang out with before going home and being alone for the rest of the night. He was alone all day and all night, causing more wincing to come from me.

"Kay-chan!!" someone cried, breaking me out of my thoughts. I looked over at Naruto, who was currently trying to get my attention as we waited for our senseis. I noticed that Kiba and his team had already left, so I sweat dropped and smiled at Naruto shyly.

"Hey, Naruto! What've you been up to? Well, besides tying up Uchiha." I stated, noticing how Sasuke and Sakura were sitting a few seats behind me. Sasuke, with his sharp and annoying senses, glared at me. But I just waved back at him innocently, before turning my attention back to a pouting Naruto.

"What's the matter?" I asked, poking his head curiously. I always did that to get his attention. And whenever I was upset, he'd always poke my side, which was my ticklish spot.

More pouting from Naruto.

"We aren't on the same team." Naruto muttered sadly. I gave him a little pout, than a squeezing hug.

"Aw, don't worry! We'll still be inseparable." I assured my blonde friend. He hugged me back and smiled at me goofily before nodding.

"You're right, Kay-chan!"

"Of course I am. When have I been WRONG?"

Naruto thought for a second.

"Well, you were wrong when you told me the tooth-fairy lives in my left nostril; and when you said that Santa Claus secretly steals Choji's underwear every year; oh, and when you said that the Easter Bunny's eggs are actually—"

"Hey, I was eight! Give me some credit!" I interrupted defensively. Naruto smiled widely as more people left with their senseis. Bored, I began to write on the chalk board distractedly. I drew random squiggles and shapes, wrote odd sentences, and insults towards my hyper active friend, earning glares and pouts from him. He was currently opening and shutting all of the doors distractedly, annoying me to no end. Everyone else had left and as Naruto began to pull out and push in chairs, I sighed in irritation.

"Naruto Uzumaki, I swear, if you open/close any more doors and/or pull/push in anymore chairs, I will knock you out so fast, you'll think you fell asleep." I snapped. Naruto looked up from the chair he currently pushed in and backed up immediately, knowing I mean what I say. He was used to my common annoyed outbursts, although I could tell they still startled him. I turned back to my chalkboard and noticed everything I wrote and drew was erased. My mouth dropped and I turned to Sakura, who placed the eraser back on the small ledge that held the chalk and erasers. My eyes narrowed.

"Why did you erase my doodles?" I asked her. Sakura looked at me with a stern expression.

"Our senseis could come in any minute and we don't want them seeing those ridiculous drawings." she told me firmly. I raised an eyebrow and turned towards the two boys, who were watching us. I looked at Naruto, a hand on my hip.

"Did you care if our senseis saw my doodles?" I asked him. He shrugged.

"They made us wait. I don't think they deserve a non-messed up chalkboard." he told me, pouting once again. I nodded and turned to Sasuke.

"Same question." I told him. He looked at me and shrugged carelessly, so I heaved a dramatic sigh before marching over to him. I placed my hands on the desk and leaned closer to him.

"A shrug is not an answer. So, please, answer the damn question." I ordered calmly. He smirked lightly at my order.

"Watch your language or your parents will have to wash out your mouth." he told me. I instinctively shut my eyes at the word 'parents', but soon reopened them. I noticed Naruto giving me a soft, sad stare. Replacing my sad eyes with fierce ones, I looked at Uchiha, hoping he hadn't noticed my changed in moods. But of course, he did. His eyes stared at me intently, curiosity sparked in the onyx orbs.

"I highly doubt that. Now, answer the question."

"And why do you doubt it?"

His reply caused my eyes to narrow into slits. I think this is the most I've ever heard him talk.

"Answer my question." I stated.

"You're avoiding _my_ question."

"So what? My home life is none of your business, Emo Jerk." I snapped, finally giving him a nickname when I get annoyed with him. His own eyes narrowed as he stood up and leaned forward until our faces were only a few inches apart. I could feel my insides practically melt as he stared into my eyes intently.

Hey, I never said I didn't have a crush on the lone Uchiha. I simply didn't pursue it like all the other girls.

"Well, I'm not answering your question until you answer mine." he told me simply. I gritted my teeth and pulled back, counting to ten in my head, trying to contain my anger.

"Whatever, you're not really worth that much of my time anyway." I told him before stalking off to the opposite side of the room. I heard Sakura gasp and I felt the glare of the Uchiha as I plopped down on the ground. Tightly crossing my arms across my chest, I glared at the ground as Naruto sat down beside me.

"Kay-chan, don't be so upset. He doesn't know, remember?" he told me gently. I wanted so bad just to tell Naruto to go away, but he always had that brotherly affect on me; I could never tell the one person that I loved like family to leave me alone. He might actually do it. Instead, I let out a sigh and nodded, knowing I probably looked like a girl version of Sasuke; emotionless. I didn't even care that the other two people in the room heard what Naruto told me.

"Doesn't know what?" Sakura asked from the front of the room. I looked up, dropping my emotionless act. I allowed my sadness to leak through; it took too much energy to pretend otherwise.

"If I didn't tell Uchiha, what makes you think I'm going to tell you?" I asked her calmly. I never hid the fact that I had a secret; what was the point? Everyone can simply make their own assumptions about me. I really didn't care that much.

"Why won't you tell me?" Sasuke asked from his spot. I rolled my eyes.

"Why _would_ I? No offense, Uchiha, but you aren't exactly my best friend. And my secrets aren't meant to be shared with anyone I'm not close to. Not even the people who are semi-close to me know. I'm certainly not telling you and Pinky here. Not yet, anyway." I told him firmly.

"Besides, why do you want to know so bad?"

Sasuke didn't respond, so I looked up and noticed he was zoning out again. I allowed a sigh to escape my lips before the door opened, revealing two boys and a lady, looking to be in her twenties. One boy had wavy, orange hair that was shoulder length. His large, magenta eyes scanned the room, before spotting me. His eyes lit up.

"Oi, are you Kaiya Hakura?" he asked loudly. I cocked my head to the side and nodded.

"Yep, that's me." I answered calmly. The second boy, who was quiet, had short dark brown hair that only reached the tips of his ears. His own, regular sized eyes were a bright, green color. The woman smiled at me warmly.

"Well, come on then!" she called out, motioning for me to move it. I stood up gracefully and walked down the aisle of desks, pretending like everything was peachy keen. The woman's long, blonde hair was put into a tight ponytail that swished when she moved. I waved to Team Seven before heading off with my new team, wondering what we're gonna do now. I mean, come on; who wouldn't wonder when you're walking with the human energizer bunny (orange-haired kid), a mute (brown-haired kid), and the toughest Barbie model I've ever seen in my life (sensei)?


	2. Observing Team Seven

**A/N: okey dokey, here's Chapter Two! :D Who-hoo!**

**Oh and i don't own anything besides the lovely Team Three. ;) **

Chapter Two: Observing Team Seven

"So, let's introduce ourselves!" the sensei exclaimed. I leaned against the soft grass, gazing up at the clouds serenely.

Man, where's Shika when you want him? I thought distractedly, still listening to my team.

"Oookay…who're you?" energizer bunny asked.

"Well, my name is Himiko Aimi. I'm twenty-four. Uh, I enjoy reading, training, and swimming. I do not like snow, incredibly perky people, and waffles. And I don't really think about the future." she told us calmly. I looked at her.

"So…we're supposed to say our name, age, likes, dislikes, and…uhh…future plans?" I asked. She nodded lightly, so I smiled and looked at the energizer bunny.

"You first, kid." Himiko stated, pointing at him. He beamed.

"Ok! I'm Shugo Rhi! I'm 13. I like eating, training, and sleeping. I don't like being ignored, cheese, and sushi. I really wanna be someone who'll be remembered!" he told us excitedly. I smiled at him, knowing we were going to get along great. Himiko smiled and turned to the other boy.

"Your turn, mute." I told him with a teasing smile. He sent a small, playful scowl my way before beginning.

"I'm Taru Hiroshi. I'm 14. I like to train, helping out at the academy, and night. I don't like irritating girls, weak people, and arrogant jerks. I haven't thought too much about my future." he explained calmly. With the words 'irritating girls' and 'arrogant jerks', I just knew I had to introduce him to Team Seven. They would get along great.

"And you." Himiko finished, pointing to me. I yawned widely before starting.

"My name's Kaiya Hakura and I'm 12. I like to watch the stars and clouds with my pal, reading, and rain. I really don't like fangirls, being alone constantly, and lightning. Sorry, but my future is my business. Or, it will be once I figure out what exactly I want to do with it." I stated. Stretching, I turned my attention to Himiko. She looked at all of us with a confident smile.

"Good, you all have different personalities. I don't really have anything planned for today, seeing as it's our first day together as a team…so…why don't we just go get something to eat?" she told us with a sweat drop. I grinned and hopped up, just noticing how hungry I was. She was extremely late in getting me from the classroom, so it had been a while since I had eaten.

"ICHIRAKU RAMEN!" Shugo cried and off he went, hurrying to the ramen bar excitedly. Himiko raised an eyebrow as we followed behind slowly.

"Well, I guess we're getting ramen." she stated with a shrug. I looked at Taru curiously, wondering why he's so quiet.

"Soo…Taru…what's up?" I asked, trying to start a conversation. He looked at me for a second before shrugging.

"Trying to ignore Shugo, as usual." he told me simply. I watched as Himiko told our hyper teammate to get back here and stop annoying the locals, who were ogling the scene with amusement. I laughed.

"I take it you were both in the same class?" I asked. Taru nodded lightly.

"Yeah, we were. You're from the Genin class, with the Uchiha kid, right?" Taru looked innocently curious, but I could sense the eagerness beneath his act. He wanted to fight Sasuke.

"Yep, we're in the same class, me and the Emo Jerk. He graduated top of our class. Well, almost." I stated. Taru raised his eyebrow at my aloofness, than prodded my 'well, almost' statement.

"What do you mean 'almost'?"

"I mean, I tied with him in the physical stuff, but I got pretty low scores on the tests. I'm not stupid," I added quickly, noticing the annoyed spark in the green orbs of my teammate. "I just don't do well with tests."

Taru was quiet again, probably thinking over what I just said, so I sighed. We approached the ramen shop in silence, much to my annoyance. Himiko was still trying to restrain Shugo, and when calm tricks didn't work, she finally hit him over the head.

"Stay still for two seconds, Shugo!" she cried out, an irk mark appearing on her forehead. I snickered at the fearful expression of my teammate before running to catch up with them. Shugo had a large bump on the top of his head, but it didn't seem to bug him. He still gave me a large smile and a high five as I reached him.

"I heard you were in the same class as Sasuke Uchiha." he told me, getting to the point. I huffed as an irk mark began to pulsate on my forehead.

"Yeah, yeah, the Emo Jerk. Yes, he graduated almost top of our class. I tied with him in the physical crap, but flunked the tests." I told him routinely. Honestly, why did they care so much about Sasuke? It was annoying enough with the fangirls, but my teammates too? That's just…unfair.

"SHUT UP, SASUKE-TEME!" someone cried from within confides of the ramen bar, which was only a few feet away now. I grinned at the voice, recognizing it immediately. Shugo looked at the small stand, a curious look etched into his features as Taru came up. Himiko suddenly let out a small chuckle before walking under the short curtains and taking a seat. I shrugged and followed her lead, plopping into an unoccupied seat.

"Kay-chan!" Naruto cried out before I felt two arms wrap around me. I laughed and hugged my best friend back as he sat down next to me. I looked past Naruto and saw a man with slanted silver hair and a mask that covered the low half of his face. Himiko was seated next to him, talking lightly like old friends. With a shrug, I looked next to me and saw none other than Sasuke Uchiha himself. I huffed lightly in annoyance, than looked at the pink haired girl who was sitting next to him. But, shockingly, her attention wasn't on him; it was on Taru, who sat down next to her. I grinned and shook my head, knowing this was going to be interesting. Shugo plopped down in between the silver haired man and Naruto, bouncing excitedly.

"Naruto, this is my teammate Shugo. Shugo, Naruto." I introduced before turning to the quiet Sasuke.

"So, having fun with your team?" I asked him. He rolled his eyes.

"Naruto, the loudest and most clueless ninja, and Sakura, my two teammates; yes, I had loads of fun." he muttered. I laughed and placed my order as Ayame walked over.

"Three medium bowls of chicken ramen, please." I told her. She smiled and told her father my order and he set to work. Sasuke raised an eyebrow at my order.

"…What?"

"I'm just surprised."

"Why?"

He shrugged.

"Most girls are on diets." he answered before taking a bite of his ramen. I scoffed in annoyance while playing with a strand of my hair distractedly.

"Please, give me some credit! I don't diet." I said, my face scrunching up at the word. He smirked at my reaction, so I smiled happily. Sasuke wasn't much of a talker, but I had managed, on my first day at the academy, to make him talk to me. And since then, I can still get him to talk to me, like right now. A bowl of ramen was placed in front of me, so I grinned and grabbed some chopsticks. Within a few minutes, my first and second bowl, which was placed in front of me when I finished the first one, was empty. I glanced past the Emo Jerk and at Taru, who was currently trying to ignore Sakura. When she realized she was being ignored, she turned back to Sasuke and began trying to get his attention instead. I sighed and shook my head before digging in to my third bowl, less eager than before. I was getting full, which was good considering the fact that this was my last bowl and I was out of money…

"REALLY?! YES!" Naruto exclaimed before jumping up and dancing around. I eyed him cautiously, watching as he jumped around like the nerd that he was. I pushed my empty bowl away and turned to Shugo, who was laughing at the orange ninja's response.

"So, why is he so excited? Did he get another free coupon?"

Shugo laughed again but shook his head. "Apparently, our teams are going to be training and taking missions together a lot. That is, of course, if they pass Kakashi's test."

I looked at the ecstatic Naruto again. "Kakashi's their sensei, right? The guy with the anti-gravity hair?"

Shugo nodded in answer before paying for his food and standing up. He sent a smile in my direction, gave me a quick hug, and bounced off to wherever he lived. Naruto ran over to me, grabbed my wrist, and began to drag me away. I looked at the others, all watching Naruto with sweat drops. "Well, I'll see you tomorrow, Himi-sensei!"

"Seven o'clock sharp, kid!"

I nodded and turned back to Naruto, keeping pace with him easily. We walked together towards his apartment, which was near my own. As we walked, I asked him what the senseis had told him. He beamed.

"If we pass Kakashi's stupid survival thing tomorrow, we'll be training and doing missions with your team! Kakashi-sensei said it was something to do with the talent on your team," Naruto explained with a roll of his eyes. I grinned widely and laughed before waving goodnight to my best friend. He waved back and entered the apartment building, heading upstairs to his shelter. I sighed heavily and walked away, my arms crossed behind my head. The sun had set a little while ago and the streets were dark. No one was out at this time of night; they were either sleeping or awaiting the return of loved ones from missions and such. I looked up at the sky and saw millions of sparks twinkling down at me innocently. It was kind of soothing, in a way. No matter how far you go or what happens, the stars will always be there, watching over you. They won't dim, like memories; they wont' disappear, like people. They will always be there and, even though you could've lost the most important thing in your life, they will stay up there, shining, sparkling forever.

I yawned widely before marching into the building and up the rickety steps. My rent was due in a week, so the landlord gave me a stern glare from her own apartment before grabbing her paper and slamming the door loudly. With a roll of my eyes, I waltzed into my empty shelter and shut the door tightly behind me. I locked it and sauntered through the living room until I came to my bedroom door. With a kick, I sent the door banging into the wall and I grasped my pajamas from the chair beside the entryway. I quickly changed and hopped on to my bed, pulling the covers over my body and ignoring the thought that I was all alone. As thoughts of my new teammates, the missions that are sure to pile up, and training sessions swirled in my head, my body drifted into unconsciousness filling my head with empty darkness and screams.

"So, what're we doing today?" Taru muttered, rubbing his eyes sleepily. I was currently sprawled out on the grass, my eyes closed serenely and my mind tuned in. Shugo was yawning simultaneously beside me; his body slumped against a tall oak tree. His foot twitched subconsciously.

"We are going to observe Kakashi's team, of course," Himi explained impatiently. My head lifted from the ground and my eyes shot open, one eyebrow rose in question as I stared at my sensei.

"Why? What can we possibly gain from that?" Shugo muttered grumpily. He obviously wanted to get back to sleep; it was only eight. Himi-sensei had actually beaten us to the training field, which was kind of shocking since she was so late yesterday. But as soon as she saw me, the last one to show up, approaching, she began to talk to us about how important teamwork was and how, every now and again, she'd test to see how our teamwork was.

What fun and enlightenment that brought us!

Please, note the sarcasm there.

"We can gain valuable information. Consider this training; we need to stay hidden," she continued cheerfully, despite Shugo's outlook today. "No sounds or movements can be made. None whatsoever, understand?"

I nodded my head, laying it back in the grass and allowing my eyelids to drift shut. We four stayed silent, lost in our own thoughts and dreams until a loud nasally snore came from my left. I popped open one eye, staring at the sleeping Shugo in annoyance.

"He fell asleep…again," Taru reported from a branch in a nearby tree. I groaned and rolled on to my side, my back facing the sleeping ninja.

He can't shut up, even in his damn sleep, I thought in exasperation, trying to block out the next earth splitting snore without much success. Himiko sighed from her comfortable position across the clearing and I heard her steady footfalls coming towards the boy. I scrambled away hurriedly, not sure what my sensei was going to do. But I soon found out when Shugo was suddenly up in the air, screaming. She had tossed him, like a sack of flour, into the air. I watched with a sweat drop as his body came hurtling down, soon making contact with the icy water of the river ahead of me. In a few seconds, he was spluttering and out of the water, shivering.

"WHAT WAS THAT FOR, HIMI-SENSEI?!" he screamed angrily. Himiko plopped down in his spot, staring at her student casually.

"You fell asleep…again," she told him calmly. Shugo glared at Himi viciously before muttering and waltzing over to me, sitting down directly beside me. I spent the rest of the time, trying to drag him out of his sudden sour mood, while Taru watched expressionlessly from above. Speedily, Himiko shot up and grinned at us, excitement gleaming in her deep brown eyes.

"Kakashi started the test; time to go!" she cried out. Shugo and I stood up in unison and we were all suddenly running through the forest soundlessly. Taru was jumping from branch to branch agilely, his face kept forward. Soon, we came up to another clearing where Naruto was currently hanging from a rope. I sweat dropped, hiding in some underbrush.

Naruto…what did you do?

"You know, compared to the others, you're kind of weird," Kakashi observed, reading an orange book. His face was covered with a dark mask, reached from his neck to his nose, obscuring everything in between. His left eye was covered with his headband, leaving only his right eye and half-cheek visible.

"Weirdo…" I whispered under my breath. Himiko whacked me over the head silently, her eyes locked on the dangling orange ninja. He was yelling about letting him down and taking Kakashi down by himself. I rubbed the back of my head as Kakashi disappeared casually.

"Follow him, Kaiya, Taru," Himi ordered. I nodded and jumped off to follow the silver-haired man. Taru was beside me as we jumped through the trees cautiously. We soon found Sakura and were about to move forward, until we saw a beaten and bleeding Sasuke. My eyes bulged and I felt my breath leave me in a whoosh.

What happened to the Emo Jerk? Oh, wait, I thought, squinting. I saw the thin haze of an illusion, unnoticeable to most people's eyes. I relaxed, happy nothing too tragic had happened to anyone. Sakura screamed and fainted on the spot, emitting an eye-roll from me. 'Sasuke' disappeared in a cloud of smoke and revealed Kakashi sitting in a tree, reading his book. I read the cover for the first time and nearly lost it.

Make-Out Paradise…just great…

"I think I overdid it…Oh well, she has to learn to see through these things," he said airily, flipping another page of his perverted book. I sighed soundlessly, but nodded slightly in agreement. In another poof, he was gone. My eyes widened and I turned to Taru.

"I'm going after silver; you stay with pink, ok?" I stated. Taru raised an eyebrow at my request.

"Silver? Pink?"

"Ugh! Kakashi and Sakura, you idiot!" I snapped before jumping off after the silver-haired ninja, following the trail of his chakra. In a few minutes, I came across the twenty-something-year-old ninja and Sasuke, both facing each other. Suddenly, Sasuke pulled out shruiken and threw them at his sensei with such precision; I was slightly shocked when Kakashi dodged. But I was further shocked when Sasuke smirked and threw a kunai in a different direction and in a few seconds, I heard a distinct snap. Kakashi's eye widened in realization, as did mine.

"A trap…" I whispered as Kakashi dodged the onslaught of weapons. But as he skidded to a stop, Sasuke appeared behind him. Silver grabbed Sasuke's leg as he threw it up to kick his sensei, than used his fist to punch him. Kakashi caught that with his other hand and Sasuke used his other leg to knee the man. But Kakashi blocked it with his arm, causing Sasuke to be upside down, level with his waist. In an instant, I saw Sasuke's plan; the bells were hanging from Kakashi's waist. I smiled and shook my head slowly as Sasuke's fingers brushed the jingling bells, but Kakashi caught on and jumped away.

Nice plan, Emo Jerk, I thought approvingly. Sasuke made a few handsigns as Kakashi admitted that he wasn't like the other two and I assumed he was referring to Sakura and Naruto. The man's eye widened again.

"No way! Those handsigns…a Genin can't do fire-style! It takes too much chakra," he exclaimed in shock. A tunnel of flame sprouted from Sasuke's mouth, extending into a ball of raging heat, embracing Kakashi. I squinted and sighed heavily.

"He's gone…" I muttered, knowing full well Kakashi evaded the fire. I smirked. "But this should be interesting."

Sasuke began to look around frantically, trying to pinpoint where his opponent was. And, suddenly, an arm shot up from the earth and grabbed his ankle, towing him downwards. Soon, Kakashi was standing and Sasuke was in the ground, only his head above ground. He squirmed as Kakashi talked about how Sasuke was different and all that jazz. I was honestly waiting until he would shut up; I wanted to rub this in the Hot-Shot's face. Kakashi soon disappeared and Sasuke sat there, glowering at the ground. I was about to jump out from the trees, when someone grabbed my waist and covered my mouth.

"Don't expose yourself! Remember, this was a test?" Taru hissed. Remembrance snapped in my mind and I groaned into his hand.

"But I want to tease Uchiha!"

"Too bad, we need to stay hidden," Taru murmured in reply, removing his arm and hand. I was about to ask why he was here, instead of with Sakura, when the pink-haired Kunoichi ran from the trees. But she stopped dead, seeing Sasuke's head. The Uchiha blinked rapidly twice.

"…Sakura?"

"AHH! IT'S SASUKE'S HEAD WITHOUT A BODY AND IT'S STILL TALKING!" she shrieked before passing out…again. I sweat dropped and shook my head.

"And that's my partner?" Sasuke muttered in disbelief. With a satisfied smile, Taru and I jumped off, following the trail of Kakashi's chakra. It wasn't that hard; we soon came back to where they had started, meeting up with Shugo and Himi-sensei. We four sat in the scratchy underbrush, watching as Kakashi tied poor Naruto to a log for trying to cheat. The timer went off, probably indicating that the test had ended. They obviously had a time limit. When Sakura and Sasuke appeared, Kakashi told them his final decision; they had failed and weren't even capable of becoming ninja, even if they did go back to Academy.

"They never did figure out what this was about…" I whispered in disbelief as Sakura asked Kakashi what the test was all about.

"No, they didn't. If they did, they would've passed," Himi agreed regretfully. I watched as he began to explain that the test was all about teamwork; one of the most important things for a ninja to learn. Without teamwork, they were simply a group of inadequate brats. After threatening to kill Sasuke if Sakura didn't kill Naruto, Kakashi stated that he'd give them a second chance, only it'd be harder.

"And no one give Naruto lunch. It's his punishment," he announced casually before disappearing. I pouted, watching Naruto stare at the others getting ready to eat with longing. His stomach agreed with his face; it snarled loudly. Naruto laughed nervously.

"I'm fine, really! I can go days without eating! Weeks—" His ranting was interrupted by another growl from his abdomen. Sasuke sighed heavily and held out his lunch, looking the opposite way. Naruto blinked.

"Sasuke-kun…" Sakura whispered. Sasuke, again, sighed loudly before facing his comrades.

"If we want to get those bells, we'll have to work together. If Naruto's hungry, he'll be useless," he said emotionlessly. I smiled at the loner, happy he was willing to do that for Naruto, even if it was only to pass. Sakura held out her own lunch, which brought happy tears to Naruto's eyes.

"Here, have my lunch. I don't eat as much as Sasuke-kun. Besides, I'm on a diet," she muttered. Naruto smiled widely.

"Sakura-chan," he whispered. Sakura rolled her eyes and held the box lunch closer to him.

"Just eat."

"Uhm…"

"What?" Sakura snipped. Naruto looked at her apologetically.

"I can't," he muttered, straining against the ropes for emphasize. Sakura got an irk mark on her forehead as he glared at the orange ninja angrily. Sasuke looked around anxiously.

"Hurry up," he hissed.

"Ok, but this is the only time I am ever doing this! Got it?" Sakura growled, feeding the happy Naruto. As she put another forkful of whatever her lunch consisted of, a loud boom echoed. Naruto yelped and Sakura screamed, covering her ears and cowering. Sasuke got into a fighting position, glaring at the large Kakashi defiantly. Storm clouds rumbled behind him as he pointed at the three Genin.

"YOU THREE!" he thundered. Wind blew around the clearing, sweeping away debris and dirt. I laid flat on the ground as the wind pushed the bush I was hiding behind all around, revealing me. Naruto was the first to speak up.

"B-But you said…"

"Yes…?" Kakashi asked dangerously. Naruto put his stubbornness into action.

"You said we were a team and we had to work together! That's why…Sakura and…"

"We're all on this squad and we're all in this together," Sasuke finished firmly. Sakura blinked and stood up, her face set into an angry scowl.

"Yes, that's right! We gave Naruto our lunch because we're a team!" she cried out. Naruto looked between his two teammates and stared at Kakashi.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah…Believe it, that's right!" he yelled out in agreement. Kakashi looked at them as if they had all sprouted two heads. He leaned forward.

"You're a team? That's your excuse?" he demanded incredulously. My three former classmates nodded. Kakashi leaned forward some more, his expression angry. Or what I could see of it, anyways.

"Hm…you pass," he said calmly, smiling under his mask .The storm and the wind died at once and everything was still and sunny again. Sakura blinked.

"Wh-what?"

"You. Pass."

"But how?" Sakura demanded, shaking off her shock. Kakashi grinned wider.

"You're the first squad to actually get it. The others did exactly what I said and fell into every trap. They couldn't think for themselves," he explained calmly. He tilted his head back to stare up at the revealed sky. I copied his movement slowly, careful not to make any movements that might alert them that we were here. The sun was shining brilliantly.

"In the ninja world, those who break the rules are scum. But those we abandon their friends, they are worse than scum."

Sasuke grinned happily as Naruto, once again, got tears in his eyes. Sasuke, being the Emo Jerk he is, just simply smirked triumphantly.

"Team Seven had their first mission tomorrow!" Kakashi exclaimed cheerfully before heading off towards the village, Sakura and Sasuke in tow. But of course, they forgot Naruto, who began to go berserk. With a smiled, I jumped from the bush and walked over to him. He didn't see on account of his eyes were closed and he was yelling loud enough for the Sand Village to hear.

"NARUTO UZUMAKI, SHUT UP!" I screamed loudly. His yelling stopped abruptly and he blinked rapidly, staring at me. I grinned happily, my hands on my hips and my head cocked to the side.

"Kay-chan? What're you doing here?" he asked curiously. I shrugged and pulled out a kunai, cutting the ropes smoothly. They fell to the ground in a heap, allowing Naruto to walk around freely. I grinned widely and hugged my hyper friend as the rest of my team showed themselves.

"Congratulations, Naruto! You're officially a Genin!" I exclaimed excitedly as Shugo tackled the orange ninja to the ground. The two boys laughed and began to wrestle playfully, but my attention was drawn up ahead. Kakashi, Sasuke, and Sakura had stopped and were watching us. Kakashi was the only one who didn't looked surprised to see us, even though Sasuke tried to hide his surprise behind an indifferent attitude. I smiled and waved energetically.

"Hey, Sasuke and Sakura, come join the party!" I called out. Sakura smiled at me and ran over, a self-satisfied smile on her face. She wasn't as bad as everyone relayed her to be. She just needed to get her priorities straight and get over the Uchiha. I gave her a friendly hand shake when she reached us.

"Congrats, Sakura, you made it."

"Thanks Kaiya. So, I guess we'll be hanging out more often now, huh?" she inquired politely. I grinned widely and snickered, rubbing the back of my head.

"Uh-huh. We're going to have some fun messing with Ino," I muttered mischievously. She laughed and nodded her head as Sasuke came over, along with Kakashi. The sensei turned to Himi, his visible eyebrow raised.

"So this was the training you were talking about? Spying on us?"

Himiko laughed exultantly. "Oh, c'mon, Kakashi! It was just a test to see if they could hide and not be seen. You know, to gather information and, quoting you, 'spying.'"

Kakashi rolled his eye but turned to us, his expression impressed. "Well, you can say they passed. I didn't even know they were here."

I grinned widely and held up a peace sign, my tongue poking out arrogantly. Shugo puffed out his chest and stood proudly, until Naruto pounced on him and the boys began to wrestle again. Taru just crossed his arms and shrugged modestly. Kakashi gave us an amused smile before turning back towards the village, his attention on his little orange book.

"Come on, let's go home," he said. Naruto and Shugo both stood up and laughed with each other, both following behind Kakashi and Himiko, who walked next to him. I saw how she kept annoying him and how he was beginning to lose his cool demeanor. Himiko was obviously enjoying herself more than she should and I instantly got the idea that something was going on between the two other than common friendliness. I just shrugged the idea away and smiled widely, bouncing over to the silent Uchiha. Taru was walking on his other side, both boys being quiet. Sakura was lolling behind, completely at ease. I nudged Sasuke innocently.

"Hiya, Uchiha. What's up?" I asked my eyes wide with common curiosity. He gave me a suspicious glare.

"What do you want?"

"Well. That was rather rude, don't cha think?" I asked defensively. The boy just rolled his eyes and looked forward, ignoring me completely. Of course that really didn't help his cause. I just began poking and pushing him, trying to get an answer out of him. Not to mention the fact I kept spewing different questions. Finally, he groaned and pushed me back. The sudden response startled me slightly, but just encouraged me to push him harder and more forcibly. He glowered and retaliated, trying to trip me. Successfully, I might add grudgingly. I stood up quickly and scowled at the calm Uchiha before tackling him to the ground, irritated. We fell to the ground, grunting, than began to fight, just like Shugo and Naruto, only a little more serious. I would not lose to the avenger, no matter what, and I could tell that he wasn't going to lose to me either. We rolled around, the dominance switching frantically, until I realized we were heading towards a hill. My eyes went wide.

"Uh, Sasuke, we—" But it was too late. We were already rolling down the large hill, heading in separate directions. I yelped and pushed my hands into the ground, stopping my movement. I bit my lip as the heels of my hands got stabbed with sharp pieces of branches. I lifted my hands and sat up, sliding down on my butt, the heels of my feet in the ground so I didn't go out of control. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed that Sasuke had managed to grab a hold of a branch, settling his self before sliding down like me. I reached the bottom of the hill in the next thirty seconds, hopping up and scowling at the Uchiha.

"This is your fault," he said before I even opened my mouth. He was standing up now, leaning against the tree serenely. I glowered viciously.

"How so, Emo Prince?" I snapped. His onyx eyes narrowed and I crossed my arms tightly across my chest. He shrugged off of the tree and walked over until he was only standing a few feet away from me. Unfortunately, I had to tilt my head back slightly to meet his gaze, seeing as he was taller than me. It bugged me terribly.

"You attacked me!" he exclaimed.

"And if you would've listened to me, you would've known that we were heading to the hill!"

"And if you hadn't attacked me, we wouldn't have been heading toward the hill!"

"Oh, shut up," I muttered, turning my back to him and walking up the steep hill. Naruto and the others were at the top, looking down to make sure we were okay. I waved, climbing up with ease.

"Hiya everyone, that was a long fall," I stated calmly. Sasuke jumped from tree to tree, ignoring me as he went. I preferred the ground and actually managed to make it to the top before him. I smirked as he landed beside Sakura silently, sticking out my tongue at him before walking ahead with Naruto and Shugo. The two boys were discussing the match with gusto, Naruto laughing at the sight of Sasuke on the ground. We three talked fluidly, the topic changing from ramen to training to our teams to the D ranked missions we have to start tomorrow. I felt the stare of the Uchiha on my back as we continued on calmly, but decided to ignore it, knowing it would annoy him to no end.

And when we went our separate ways, Uchiha heading to the training fields while Shugo, Naruto, and I went to a small clearing to relax, I heard him muttering curses under his breath. I also heard the phrase 'annoying, irritating, little brat' and I knew instantly he was talking about me. I grinned.

Aw, he's thinking about me!


	3. Attacks, Curiosity, and Pledges

**A/N: Okay, so here's Chapter three! YAY! I'll prolly be working on meh other story, so the next update should either come later tomorrow or the next day, not shr yet...**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. I only own the lovely Team Three, as every one already knows. Besides, if i did, i wouldn't be broke, American, or a female. **

**--Sara**

* * *

Chapter Three: Attacks, Curiosity, and Pledges

I yawned widely, leaning against the wall of the Hokage's office. My legs were spread out in front of me, my head leaning against the wall as I watched Naruto, once again, complain about the boring missions. I can't say I disagree with the lack of excitement, but, unlike Naruto, I wasn't a baka; I knew why we got the crappy missions. Team Seven was standing up, each holding their own composure, while my team was sitting on the ground, thoroughly bored with the passed mission. We had to get a lost cat.

Please, everyone, contain your enthusiasm!

Iruka blew up at the blonde-haired idiot, telling him how he's still an inexperienced Genin and to stop being so disrespectful. But of course, the Old Man simply chuckled and began to explain how each rank of mission is dispersed. Genin generally got D ranked missions and were lucky to get C ranked. Chunin held the spot for B ranked and C ranked, taking them out of the equation. And Jounin took care of the A ranked missions, occasionally getting the S ranked if no ANBU Black Opts were available. But Naruto just stuck out his lower lip.

"I get it, but I'm not a kid anymore! I'm not the same brat who pulled pranks! I'm a _ninja_ now," he complained, sitting on the floor and turning his back to our former teacher and the Hokage. His arms were crossed firmly across his chest while he sat on the floor, his legs tangled like a pretzel. I snickered.

"So, you're a former brat?" I inquired with a quirk of my lips. Naruto sent me a playful scowl before sticking out his tongue and shoving his nose up in the air. I put my right forefinger and thumb to my forehead, creating an L. It was backwards to me, but it looked like a proper L to him. He glowered, but I just poked my tongue out in response. I was fully aware of the attention we had been getting from the Hokage and our senseis at this interaction, all of them wearing masks of amusement. The Hokage always loved our relationship because Naruto had been treated by the villagers in such a cruel fashion, except me. I knew of the Nine-Tailed Fox and couldn't care less. The demon had caused a lot of destruction in the Village, that was true; but _Naruto_ wasn't the cause of that. He should've been considered a hero; he was now the host to an unstable demon, keeping it locked away and the village protected.

"Well…" Sarutobi considered for a minute. He tapped his chin thoughtfully, a smile faint on his aged lips. "I guess I could give you two teams a C ranked mission…"

I perked up at the sound of a C ranked mission, but Himiko shook her head. "We already have a mission, Lord Hokage."

I sank back to the ground, pouting uselessly. I saw Sasuke give me an arrogant smirk, seeing as for the past two weeks, we've been competing during training and the bored-to-tears missions. Now that he got a C ranked mission, it was like a new door opening for him, while it was getting slammed right in my face.

My lower lip protruded even more.

"But I think Kaiya should go," Himi continued calmly. She shared a significant look with the Hokage, but I missed it considering I had shot up and hugged an ecstatic Naruto.

"YES! SCORE!" I yelled out excitedly, sending a smirk at Sasuke, who was now frowning slightly. Naruto and I began to bounce in place, awaiting the mission details.

"Please, send in our visitor," Sarutobi called out pleasantly. We turned at the sound of a door opening, looking at an old man stagger in the doorway. His cheeks were flushed with alcohol, a bottle of sake dangling from his hand. He looked us up and down.

"I'm supposed to trust these…these…these _kids_?" he asked incredulously, his voice just slightly slurred. I snorted, placing my hands on my hips before giving him the up-and-down.

"We're supposed to protect this…this…this _drunk_?" I mimicked childishly. He sent me a disorientated scowl as Naruto snickered beside me. Kakashi, on the other hand, didn't find this as amusing as we did and suddenly, I felt a fist make contact with my head. I grabbed the spot, holding it protectively with both hands.

"Idiot, he's our mission," Sasuke mumbled. I huffed, but stayed quiet as the mission became clear to us.

"You must bring Mr. Tazuna back to the Land of Waves. He's building a bridge and you are to escort him there and wait for the bridge to be finished," the Old Man explained patiently. Tazuna assessed Naruto dubiously.

"And you, with the idiotic look on your face," he mumbled gruffly, ignoring the Hokage. "Am I really supposed to believe that you're a ninja?"

Naruto began to laugh loudly. I smacked my forehead at his idiocy. "Ha-ha-ha-ha, who's the one with the funny look on—his—"

We four stood at attention, showing that Naruto and I were tied for shortest. But if you looked really close, you could see my head a fraction of an inch taller than his. Realization finally dawned on his fox-like features and he growled before launching towards the client. Kakashi caught the back of his jumpsuit with ease.

"LET ME GO! I'M GONNA DEMOLISH HIM—"

"We can't demolish the client, it doesn't work that way," Kakashi chided calmly as Naruto struggled against his hold. I watched Tazuna roll his drunken eyes and turn around, walking out of the room. I heaved a sigh and turned to Kakashi.

"I'm going to go and get my things. I'll meet you at the gates, Kakashi," I announced before jumping out of the window nimbly. I hopped from roof to roof easily until I reached my shabby apartment. I hopped in through my own window and landed on the ground with a soft thud. In a few swift movements, I gathered some clothes and weapons, stuffing them in my black backpack. Placing the bag on my back securely, I jumped outside and shut the window, knowing it would lock automatically. I waltzed through the streets calmly, waving at people I knew, until I reached my destination; the Nara Complex. I grinned and hopped down the street casually, smiling at different members of the Nara Clan. Finally, I came across a homey blue house. Its roof was a deep shade of brown and the shutters were tranquil white that was luminescent. I waltzed up the walkway and knocked on the door once before walking in.

"Hiya, dearest Nara's!" I called out enthusiastically. Shika's mom was in the kitchen, cooking, no doubt; she didn't she start at my entrance.

"Hello Kaiya, dear," she greeted. Her hand swirled the contents of whatever was in the pot on the stove gradually, moving in a rhythm. "SHIKAMARU, GET DOWN HERE! YOU HAVE A VISITOR!"

Silence…

"SHIKAMARU, GET DOWN HERE _NOW_!"

A loud and lengthy yawn could be heard from upstairs. "I heard you…so troublesome…"

"WHAT WAS THAT?"

"Nothing, nothing…I'm coming," he called down lazily. I snickered and waited at the bottom of the stairs, moving from the heels to the balls of my feet in a swaying motion. Shika's figure began walking down the stairs, smacking his lips silently. His hair was splayed out in different directions on his head, seeing as it was out of its usual ponytail and he gave me a drowsy look.

"Kaiya? What're you doing here? It isn't Sunday yet…is it? How long have I been asleep…?" he muttered, scrutinizing the calendar on the wall. I rolled my eyes and laughed.

"No, you lazy bum; I'm going on a mission and I'll be gone for a few days. I wanted to say goodbye," I explained cheerfully. He cocked an eyebrow before walking past me and into the living room.

"Okay, well, goodbye."

I huffed and followed him. When I reached his sprawled out figure, I made my eyes go large and my lower lip push out in a pout. I gave him my best puppy-dog eyes and feigned hurt.

"I'm gonna be gone for _daayys_ and all you can say is...goodbye?" I sniffled. Shika looked at me, confusion twisting his features. I held in a sigh of impatience. "No hug?"

His confused face turned into one of slight annoyance and realization. But I saw, under the 'you-are-so-troublesome' façade, a look of actual gloom. He really was gonna miss me, which brightened my already blinding mood. He let out a long sigh and pushed his self off the floor. He sauntered over to me and I hugged him tightly, knowing I was going to miss my lazy-ass friend. He returned the embrace slightly before I pulled away and grinned widely, turning towards the door.

"I'll see ya in a few days, Shika! Bye, Mrs. Nara," I called out. Shikamaru's mom waved at me from the kitchen and I zoomed out of the house, rushing to meet my team at the gates, like I promised. It only took a few minute until I came up to the large gates with the Leaf Village insignia emblazed on it. The others were already there, Naruto out on the path leading into the village. He looked all around frantically, squatting slightly, and looking much more excited than he should seeing as we hadn't even left the village yet. I waltzed beside Sasuke and Sakura, staring at my friend with a sweat drop.

"Why are you so excited, Naruto?" Sakura demanded. I tapped Sasuke's shoulder, earning a death glare from him. But I just smiled apologetically.

"Sorry for attacking you. I was irritated and _everyone_ knows how I get when I'm mad…" I muttered with a shrug. The cold Uchiha appraised me for a second and in that fleeting second; I noticed that his rock hard gaze had softened ever so slightly. I grinned happily, knowing that I was forgiven, even if the boy wouldn't voice it out loud. After Naruto had tried to destroy our client (again), we headed off towards the Land of Waves. I walked beside Sasuke, not really want to kick up my leisure pace to match Naruto's leading one. Sakura was on the other side of Sasuke, staying quiet, and I figured that she was mulling over numerous questions in her head.

"You know, Naruto, it isn't such a big deal to leave the village," I pointed out in the silence. Naruto turned and rolled his eyes at me.

"Well, sure, for someone who's been outside the village before, it wouldn't."

"It's more exciting when you enter a new village, like Konoha," I continued calmly, ignoring Naruto's defense. I looked up at the sky, noticing how there weren't any clouds today. Kakashi was watching me and I was vaguely aware that I may have said a little too much if I plan on keeping my past a secret. But I pretended like I didn't notice and decided to start whistling lightly as Kakashi began explaining about how important the Kage's were to each village and whatnot. My mind was focused somewhere else, though, on two faces I remembered from my lost childhood. I turned my bright purple eyes to a puddle as we walked past it. My forehead creased as I frowned.

_A puddle…? But it hasn't rained in weeks,_ I thought distractedly. I only came back to the land of the living when Kakashi was suddenly entangled with sharp chains. My eyes widened as I watched two men pull on the chains, tearing the sensei to pieces. Sakura screamed as Naruto moved forward ever so slightly. Without warning, the two men were suddenly behind Naruto, who froze, his azure eyes wide with fright.

"And now it's your turn," one of the two assassins sneered. Immediately, along with Sasuke, I jumped into action. I backed off when I saw that Sasuke had the Naruto situation handled and instead rushed over to Tazuna's side. I watched as the Uchiha locked both chains together by pinning them to a nearby tree, shocking the two men. Sasuke was suddenly standing on the large hands that controlled the chains and kicked both men in the chins, sending them backwards. Unfortunately, the force was too much and the chains broke from the controlling hand-things. The assassins quickly caught their footing and headed straight toward Tazuna. Sakura jumped in front of him first.

"Stay behind me!" she ordered. She held a kunai in front of her protectively, but despite that, I jumped in front of my comrade. I scowled at the oncoming men, knowing it was a long shot if I could fight them off at the speed they were going. I wasn't prepared.

But I _definitely_ wasn't prepared when Sasuke jumped in front of me, his arms spread out and his face set determinedly.

And I nearly had a heart attack when Kakashi suddenly appeared, knocking both men out in a single move. My eye twitched as Kakashi said, "Hi!"

"_HI?!_ You pretend to be dead, leaving us to fight these idiots, and all you can muster is…_HI?!"_ I demanded angrily, scowling at Kakashi. Truth be told, I was really worried when the goons had supposedly tore him to bits, but I would gladly fight Orochimaru before voicing my worry.

Orochimaru…the name sent shivers down my spine and anger coursing through my veins.

"Sorry I didn't help you earlier, Naruto. I didn't think you'd freeze up like that," Kakashi apologized, ripping me from my momentary stupor.

"By the way, Mr. Tazuna…" he muttered. Tazuna jumped back slightly, surprise etched in his tan features.

"Yeah, what?"

"We need to talk."

We soon tied up the men to a tree, watching them as we gathered around. Kakashi sighed and dived into his explanation. It turns out the two assassins were Chunins from the Mist; they specialize in relentless attacks, no matter what the sacrifice. I crossed my arms tightly, my eyes narrowed as they stared at the Chunin. But my mind was somewhere else. This definitely wasn't in the cards; we weren't supposed to run into any enemy ninja. And yet, here we were.

"How did you know…?" one of the men asked. I stiffened slightly, remembering something.

"The puddle!" I exclaimed. Kakashi looked over at me, smiling under his mask. The others looked at me curiously.

"There was a puddle on the path. But it hasn't rained in weeks…oh, it all makes sense now! Two Mist Shinobi would no doubt use _water techniques_…I was such an idiot not to suspect it!" I cried out, slapping my forehead in disbelief.

"If you knew of this, why did you leave for the Genin to do the fighting?" Tazuna grumbled at Kakashi, who had turned his attention back to the Mist Shinobi.

"I could've taken them out quickly enough…but then I wouldn't have learned anything. I had to know who their target was…" he explained, narrowing his one eye at Tazuna. "And what they were after."

Tazuna took on the defensive act. "Hm? What are you getting at, ninja?"

I rolled my eyes in annoyance at the old man, knowing exactly what Kakashi was talking about. The silver-haired ninja saw the eye roll and gave me an amused look.

"Would you like to explain, Kaiya?"

"Why, yes, I would. See, this could've just been an attack on us; you know, ninja on ninja? We are rivals, you know. But there's another option…" My eyes stared at Tazuna accusingly. There was something he wasn't telling us and I had a feeling it was a big part. "They could've been after you, Mr. Tazuna."

"And they were."

"When you put in this request, Mr. Tazuna," Kakashi stated. "You said you wanted standard protection; from robbers and such. You did not say there were ninjas looking for you, hunting you down. If we knew that, this would be a B ranked mission or higher. Our only mission was to take you to your destination and protect you while you finished the bridge. You have your reasons for not ordering the correct rank, but lying to us is unacceptable. We are now beyond the scope of this mission."

I continued to stare at the man, noticing the chagrin that suddenly adorned his features. Sakura sighed.

"We're Genin, this is too advanced for our level of training," she explained gently. My arms were still firmly crossed and I turned my gaze to the ground, wondering why he would go to such lengths to hide this from us.

"…should treat Naruto's wound and get the poison out."

My head shot up at the sound of my best friend, and a few words stuck out in my mind.

Naruto, wound, and **poison**.

Sakura continued to speak, but I flitted over to my friend, looking at his hand. Suddenly, the team turned to him and he looked back, shocked slightly.

"Hmm…Naruto's hand could become a problem. I guess we should head back to the village," Kakashi sighed. And I immediately noticed the change in my friend's attitude. His grin was replaced with a frown, his lips pulled back over his teeth in a grimace. He growled under his breath. Before I could stop him, he pulled out a kunai and stabbed his wound. I yelped and grabbed his hand holding the kunai as everyone, minus Kakashi, looked on in shock.

"Naruto, what the hell—" I scolded before I noticed the actual confusion in his face.

"Why am I so different? Why am I always so…augh…" he asked through clenched teeth. Sakura stepped forward, a hand held out towards the orange ninja.

"Naruto, stop that! What are you doing?"

"I worked so hard to get here. Pushing myself and training alone for hours, doing anything to get stronger…to reach my dream," he muttered. I pulled my hand off of his and stared at my friend, a pang of guilt in my chest. He shouldn't have had to train alone, but he never once asked me to train with him. But I should've known, as his best friend, that he needed a training partner. And I didn't…

"I will never back down again…and let someone _else_ rescue me. I will never run away and I will not lose to Sasuke. Upon this wound, I make this pledge…believe it. Bridge builder, I'll complete this mission and protect you with this kunai. A real ninja never gives us and neither will I. Don't you guys worry about me, I'll be just fine."

I sighed heavily and grasped his hand again, making sure it was steady as I grasped the handle of the knife.

"You shouldn't keep it in the wound for so long…"

"Uh, Naruto, that was really cool how you took the poison out and everything, but, uhm, if you lose any more blood, you're going to die," Kakashi stated matter-of-factly. The sound of a bird warbling could be heard in the silence and I pulled out the kunai quickly. Naruto was too busy freaking out to notice as I wiped it on my pants, getting rid of the blood. I heard Kakashi say, "Good idea to stop the bleeding now, seriously," before I marched over to the bridge builder confidently.

"We aren't going anywhere…_yet_," I assured him, added the last word with emphasize. I didn't wait for his response as I walked over to where the Chunin were. I assessed them curiously, wondering what the hell Mist Ninjas wanted the Bridge Builder. It just wasn't adding up. The Land of Waves and the Land of Water were two different countries; what did one have to do with the other?

"Kay-chan…can I have my kunai back now?"

I looked up at Naruto and smiled, handing over the pointed weapon. He grinned his foxy smile and pocketed it before wrapping an arm around my shoulders.

"You okay, eh? You seem a little…distracted, today," Naruto stated as we began walking again. Kakashi kept close to Tazuna as everyone stayed alert of any enemy ninjas. I shrugged.

"I dunno…just thinking about my parents a lot lately…not sure why, but I am," I stated in a dismissive tone. Naruto gave me a soft, brotherly look before hugging me tightly. I smiled and hugged my friend back, leaning into him slightly as we continued on with his arm still around my shoulders.

"Don't worry, Kay-chan; you aren't alone, mmk?"

I nodded, but stiffened slightly when I noticed that the Uchiha had been listening. Taking a glance behind us, I noticed his brow was furrowed and his face was set in a frown; I knew that look. Naruto had that same look, only goofier. It was a look of pure determination that could not and would not be deterred from its course.

"Oh, great, now I get to play twenty questions with the Emo Avenger," I grumbled under my breath.

And I knew that if he ever got me alone or away from everyone besides Naruto, I was doomed to relay my life-story to the unemotional and cold Uchiha. I turned around and narrowed my eyes at the Uchiha, just daring him to bring on the subject he had just heard. His onyx eyes stared back in my purple ones, a firm interest sparked deep in them, holding my gaze until I growled and broke it. I knew he wasn't going to just let my life story go; it was much too interesting.

Psh, yeah, right; he just wants to find something to hold over my head.

And I already knew, from the interesting coincidence that Tazuna is being hunted by ninjas and Sasuke becoming mister Eager Beaver to find out my past, that this mission was going to be, as Shika would say, very **troublesome**.


	4. Water, Bunnies, and Fights

**A/N: Sorry it took so long to update! I had to go to some stupid school thing and another stupid school thing and all that jazz, so I APOLOGIZE!**

**I do not own Naruto. Simple as that. **

Chapter Four: Water, Bunnies, and Fights

The boat slowly floated along the waters, surrounded by a thick fog. I leaned against the rim of the boat, looking around at the others lazily. Naruto was currently sitting cross-legged at the front of the small motor boat, his hands on his knees and his eyes squinted, trying to see through the impossibly dense mist, no doubt. Sakura was seated beside Sasuke, looking anxious and wary as her green orbs analyzed any sound, any movement that her senses caught from our surroundings. Sasuke was being his anti-social self, just sitting there and trying to ignore his teammates to the best of his ability. Kakashi's one-eyed gaze was locked on Tazuna, whose head was ducked, his hat shadowing his eyes. The man who was giving us the ride to shore was using the rudder to steer instead of the motor.

"This fogs so thick…you can't see anything," Sakura whispered tensely. I nodded my head drowsily, the gentle rocking of the boat making me immensely sleepy.

"The bridge isn't far. Our destination's just ahead…the Land of Waves," the man directing the boat informed us quietly. Once again, I nodded and closed my purple orbs serenely, absorbing the quiet atmosphere. I really wished Shika was here; than I wouldn't feel so immensely lazy. I mean, there's no way you can feel lazy with Shikamaru around. It was practically impossible with his attitude. I lifted one eye open as the comfortable silence soon turned into a shocked one. And as I lifted my head, I saw why; directly to the right of the boat, a towering and half-built bridge stood its legs half immersed in the water below. Cranes and metal frames were splayed out on the surface of the bridge, but no one was working as of right now. I blinked three times.

"WOAH! IT'S _HUGE_!" Naruto exclaimed loudly. The man with the rudder glared at him harshly.

"Be quiet; I told you, no noise," he hissed roughly. I turned to him curiously, cocking my head to the side.

Did he really tell us that? When? I wondered briefly, not recalling him saying anything about staying quiet. Actually, the only thing I actually remember since getting on the boat was a large and very annoyed Sasuke glaring at me for some reason; his hair was a vibrant pink and his clothes were a little too tight, looking as if he was suffocating. A sweat drop rolled down the back of my head as realization struck me.

_Did I actually fall asleep earlier? Oh well…seeing as Sasuke's hair is not pink, I would say so…_

"Why do think we're traveling like this, huh?" the man continued in a hushed voice. His eyes scanned our fogged surroundings anxiously. "Cutting off the motor and rowing; moving through this dense fog so they don't see us?"

I nodded my head, understanding the need to be quiet and stealthy. Naruto covered his mouth with both hands, looking a bit panicked. I heard a muffled, "Sorry!" come from him and I laughed, only to be immediately silence by someone's hand covering my mouth roughly. I looked over at Sasuke and glared at his emotionless expression.

"Be quiet, baka," he muttered. I rolled my eyes but nodded stiffly, expecting him to remove his hand. But he didn't; it stayed in place across my mouth, blocking off any sound that might come from it. I glared again and, once I caught his gaze, I stared down at his hand pointedly. It didn't budge. As a last resort, I pressed my tongue through my lips and drew it across his hand immaturely. It retracted at once and I smiled, bringing my tongue back into my mouth. Sasuke sat across from me, putting his hand in the water before wiping it on his shorts with a scowl directed at me. My smile grew in size, happy I had managed to annoy the boy and get some kind of contact other than fighting. That crush, from the academy, you know? Yeah, it's still intact.

"Mr. Tazuna, before we reach the pier, I need to ask you something: the men, the ninjas, who're after you…I need to know why. If you do not tell us, I will have to end this mission when we reach the shore," Kakashi told our client slowly and demandingly. Tazuna sighed deeply.

"I guess I have no choice but to tell you. No, I want you to know the truth," he whispered determinedly. And as we sat listening, he dove into his explanation of Gato, the shipping and business guy. Apparently everyone knew him, except me, which, in short, means I'm nobody. Wonderful, yeah? Anyways, he explained how not only was this short man an ingenius businessman, but a drug-dealer. He had goons and ninjas working for him. When he gained control of the small Land of Waves, he took it over and as Tazuna said: 'A man who owns the waters, owns our town, our finances, our very lives.'

"And if the bridge is finished, it will cut off his power," Tazuna concluded. Sakura rubbed her chin thoughtfully.

"And seeing as you're the Master Bridge Builder, you're getting in this gangsters way," she observed. I snickered at the word 'gangster' being used by Sakura, but kept on track. Sasuke leaned against the rim of the boat.

"Which means the men in the forest…they were working for Gato."

"Mm-hm, yep, they sure were," I agreed blandly. My hand ran through the sand-locks on my head boredly as I stared out at the seemingly endless waters. The fog wasn't thinning and it was a bit unnerving, even though I refused to admit it. It was just fog…

"But don't worry about me! Of course, they'll assassinate me before I even make it to the bridge. And my grandson will cry, 'Granddad, I want my Granddad!' And my daughter will curse the Leaf Ninjas as she lives her life in sorrow…" Tazuna mourned. A sweat drop rolled down my head at the guilt trip he was putting us through and glanced at the others. Naruto and Sakura looked like they were torn. I gave them a half-lidded, disbelieving look.

_Leave it to them to fall for it,_ I thought. Sasuke looked impassive but I saw the tiniest hint of worry in his obsidian eyes. When I caught his gaze, I raised an eyebrow and gestured towards the old man with a roll of my eyes. He nodded, silently agreeing that this was bullshit.

"Well, I guess we have no choice! We'll have to continue on with this mission," Kakashi declared, smiling under that ridiculous mask. I yawned.

"Oh, thank you very much!"

I swear I saw him stick out his tongue and mouth, 'I win.'

"Tazuna, the village is just ahead. We've been very fortunate, no one has seen us," the driver murmured from the back of the boat. Tazuna nodded and whispered, "Nice job," in response. The boat drifted under a large archway, heading into a tunnel. My mind automatically went into panic mode, but my indifferent façade stayed firmly in place. Closed spaces were one of my hidden fears; I hadn't even told my own team about it. It was, along with being all alone, one of my all time weaknesses, so it was bad enough people know of one of them, let alone both. I concentrated on deep breathing, tuning out everything else.

"Kaiya, are you okay?" I knew the voice, but it was kind of far away. I hadn't realized I had closed my eyes until I had to open them to look at the owner of the voice. Sakura had crawled over to me and was now sitting in front of my body, a worried and anxious look adorning her features. My face split into a wide, fake smile.

"Yeah, Sakura," I assured, waving my hands in a dismissive manner. "I'm fine."

She didn't look convinced but when we became bathed in light, something else caught her attention. The Land of Waves was a beautiful place with a large base of water. In the middle were two trees with roots that arched gracefully out of the water before diving back in. The branches hung low with lush leaves and the sun reflected in the waters. This was probably the docking place because many boats were bobbing up and down in the water, each tied to a different pole. The man, whose name escapes me, pulled up to the wooden walkway and stopped. We six stepped out and onto the sidewalk, turning to say goodbye to our escort.

"I can't thank you enough for doing this for us," Tazuna said, bowing slightly. The man nodded curtly.

"Just be careful." And with the final words spoken, he activated the engine and drove off. I glared at the retreating boat.

"Well, that was a rip-off. We would've been better off swimming here if he wanted to be so dang paranoid and go at a snails pace."

Kakashi bopped me on the head before continuing on towards the town, walking on the dirt path. I walked with Sasuke leisurely, staring up at the sky. The raven kept glancing over at me, trying to be discreet, with a look of curiosity on his face. After ignoring it for ten minutes, I sighed sharply and turned to him, catching him in the act.

"No offense, but I'm not a zoo animal. I do not enjoy being gawked at for no reason. Now, if you have a reason for staring at me, I'd love to hear it," I said. The boy stared at me for a second before shrugging, causing an irk mark to appear on my temple. It pulsated as I bonked the air-compacter that he calls a head.

"What the hell? If you're going to gawk at me, Emo Boy, you can at least have the decency to tell me why!"

Sasuke opened his mouth to retort when suddenly Naruto ran ahead, kunai in hand. We stopped, watching as he threw it in some random direction.

"Over there!"

I tensed, waiting for the ninja to come out, but nothing happened. The already angry irk mark grew and I scowled at my friend, trying to catch his jumpsuit on fire with my eyes. His head kept snapping back and forth, obviously thinking over something.

Kakashi stiffened and he glanced to the right, his one eye narrowed. I looked over too, feeling some kind of odd prescense.

"No, over there!"

Following the idiots voice was a kunai and it flew into the trees, hitting something solid with a distinct 'thunk.' I ran over, kunai in hand, but nearly lost it when I saw a white bunny there.

"Eh, it was just a mouse," Naruto stated from his spot on the path.

"Yeah right! A mouse! You're so obvious it's embarrassing!" Sakura screeched.

"STOP TRYING TO SCARE ME, YOU SCRUMPY LITTLE DWARF!"

Tazuna's voice was, by far, the most threatening. I kneeled and picked up the bunny, hugging it softly. Sakura and Kakashi walked over and I pouted, kissing the fluffy ear. With a huff, I stood up and held the bunny out for Naruto to see, my eyes shining with dramatic, unshed tears.

"Look what you did, you freaking DOBE!"

The orange ninja blinked before rushing over. Unfortunately for him, I was still mad and kicked him in the stomach, sending him flying back into the tree that Sasuke was currently standing beside. He didn't even flinch as the dobe made such hard contact with the tree that it crack and fell backwards. The unemotional Uchiha look down at the swirly-eyed Naruto, than back at me with an eyebrow raised, clearly asking, 'Why couldn't you have done that earlier?'

"Oh no, you don't, dobe! You aren't coming near this little creature," I yelled at Naruto angrily, hugging the bunny closer. With a glance back at it, my eyes narrowed slightly.

_It's a snow bunny…but their fur is only white in winter, when the days are shorter and have less sun…So, for this fur to be so pure, it would've had to be bred in captivity. But what's it doing here?_

My thinking was interrupted when Kakashi yelled out. I blinked, not catching what he said, but it didn't matter because the next second, I was flat on the ground with some kind of weight on top of me. I lifted my face out of the dirt and coughed, holding the bunny outwards so that it didn't get squashed. Sasuke was lying beside me, giving me an annoyed look.

"Eh? What happened? Why did you do that?"

"Baka!"

I huffed at his name-calling and glanced up, seeing a large sword impaled in a nearby tree. I looked at the angle it was at and determined where it had come from, than gasped.

"I almost DIED!"

"Well, at least you caught on," Sasuke snapped, standing up. I followed his actions, putting the now conscious bunny on the ground. It hopped off without a look back.

"Pardon me, I was thinking!"

"Shocking," he said deadpan. I glared and was about to attack him when a man appeared, landing on the sword. His light purple pin-striped pants went up to his chest, the bottoms covered with some kind of Dalmatian-print leg warmers. His black ninja sandals had some kind of tractions on the bottom. His chest was bare, showing off the light tan he had. His black hair was unkempt and stuck out at odd angles, only further distorted by the way he wore his Mist Village headband; the metal was positioned on the side of his head while it was tied on the opposite side. His arms, from his wrist to his elbow, were covered with the same printed warmers as his legs bore. His face from the nose down was covered in white bandages.

_What is it with Jounin and masks,_ I thought distractedly. The man stared down at us, his eyes glinting with amusement. I saw his eyes dart to Tazuna, than back to us and even though it was the smallest gesture, I already knew that he had been sent to kill the man. With a swift movement, I was in front of our client, my stance defensive. The man's expression grew even more amused.

Naruto rushed forward, causing me to slap my forehead. Luckily, Kakashi stopped him before he attacked this new enemy.

"Get back. You're in the way," he told us firmly. I nodded curtly, trying to grab the other's attention. Unfortunately, they were all focused on the new arrival.

_We need to protect Tazuna,_ I thought desperately, knowing that I couldn't do this by myself. Kakashi brought up his hand to his headband, getting ready to push it up.

"If he's our opponent, I'll be needing this." He pushed up the headband slowly, revealing the scar underneath. It went from his headband, down to his mask as far as I could see, crossing over his eyelid. But his eye was what shocked me. The color was crimson red with three commas surrounding the pupil. My brow creased.

"What's that…?"

"Kakashi Hatake of the Sharingan Eye, did I get that right?" the ninja asked. His voice was deep and gravelly, but crystal clear. "It's too bad, eh? But you'll have to hand over the old man."

"Quick, protect the bridge builder…and stay out of this fight. I taught you teamwork, now use it!" Kakashi demanded. No one moved. I was already protecting Tazuna, so I couldn't change anything, but the others were just standing there, gawking.

"Hm, I guess I get to see the Sharingan in action. What an honor."

"Sharingan, Sharingan! What is the Sharingan?" Naruto asked wildly, staring at Kakashi for some kind of explanation. But the young Uchiha got to it first.

"The Sharingan…a bloodline trait that runs in the Uchiha Clan; it resides in the eyes. It can comprehend any ninjutsu, taijutsu, or genjutsu and return it back on the attacker. But that's only the beginning. There's much more to it," Sasuke stated, staring at Kakashi. The man on the sword chuckled darkly.

"Correct, boy, but you just scratched the surface. The Sharingan can analyze any jutsu to the smallest detail and than copy it," he stated. I looked at Kakashi's back in shock, wondering how he has it if it resides in the Uchiha Clan. My eyes widened as an idea hit me.

_Could he be…?_

A mist began to form around us, starting thin at first than getting thicker. The man stated how Kakashi was known throughout the Mist Village and that some were actually ordered to destroy him on sight, Kakashi Hatake, the man who copied over a thousand Jutsu; the Copy Ninja.

"Enough talking, I need to exterminate the old man."

At the threat, the others finally formed around me. I grinned.

"About time, gawkers," I muttered under my breath. The Mist-Nin chuckled again and pointed at me.

"You, girl, I like you. You've got spunk. It's such a shame you're on the wrong side," he stated with a tilt of his head. I glared viciously.

"My name's not girl, you stupid jerk. It's Kaiya, remember it," I snapped harshly.

I really hated it when people called me chick or babe or girl. They are NOT my NAME!

He laughed again and disappeared, only to reappear on the surface of the river. With an arm extended upwards and two fingers pressed to his mouth, the mist began to thicken and he once again, vanished.

"He's gone…" Sakura whispered fearfully.

"Zabuza Momochi, the ex-leader of the Hidden Mist Assassination Unit. He's a master at the silent killing technique," Kakashi finally explained. I swallowed loudly, trying to fight the fear that was bubbling inside the pit of my stomach.

"Th-the silent killing technique?" Naruto stuttered. Kakashi nodded.

"Yes, its name is self-explanatory. It happens so quick, you don't even know when you pass from this life." I nodded in understanding. "Well, if we lose, we only lose our lives."

"How can you say that?" Sakura snapped. I smiled lightly at Kakashi, liking him more every minute. But panic finally gripped me when Kakashi disappeared from our view.

"Kakashi?" I called out.

"Stay together. He'll come for me first," his voice came back to us. I sighed thankfully, my body still positioned defensively. The area was clouded with a tense silence and I thought I was going to go crazy. But soon, a blast of chakra revealed the silver-haired ninja and I felt suddenly better.

"Eight points: larynx, spine, lungs, liver, jugular, simply an artery, kidneys, heart…now, which will be my attack point?" a voice mused. Yeah, there goes my suddenly better mood. I couldn't tell where Zabuza was and it scared me. But suddenly, I got an idea. I glanced at Sasuke and saw that he was shaking, his eyes wide with fright. I blinked, wondering what bought on this sudden change in attitude. I nearly slapped him when I saw the kunai he was holding suddenly twist so that it was pointing towards his stomach, but instead of slapping him, I grabbed his wrist. He glanced at me and I shook my head, a worried expression etching into my features, my plan darting from my mind.

"Sasuke, calm down; I will protect you…all of you. I will not allow my comrades to die!" Kakashi promised us. He turned around so he faced us and smiled under his mask, his eyes crinkling at the corners. I gave a weak smile back, but it disappeared when his voice returned.

"I wouldn't be too sure of that."

I almost kneeled over from a heart attack when Zabuza suddenly appeared between Tazuna and us. The old man stared at the assassin in fear, but my instinct kicked in. With one fluid move, I jumped over Zabuza and landed beside Tazuna, pushing him to the ground away from the killer. Tazuna's earlier guilt trip ran through my head.

_'And my grandson will cry, 'Where's my granddad, I want my granddad!'_

My eyes narrowed in determination. I would not allow some poor kid to lose his grandfather because we failed to do our job as ninja. It was unacceptable.

"Get it through your head; you have to kill us to get to the Bridge Builder," I growled at the Jounin. Suddenly, the others were pushed out of the way and Kakashi appeared, stabbing the man in the side with a kunai. But instead of thick blood coming out of the wound, thin water did. My eyes widened.

_A water clone!_

Zabuza's form transferred into it's element and splashed to the ground around Kakashi's feet. His eyes widened. The real ninja appeared behind the sensei, slicing Kakashi in half with his sword. I, once again, almost had a heart attack, until I saw Kakashi turn into water too. He came up behind the shocked Zabuza, holding a kunai knife to his throat.

_Whoa…Zabuza only just created that clone and yet, Kakashi still managed to copy it with the slightest of ease,_ I thought, astounded.

"Now it's over," the leaf village Jounin stated darkly. I took the time to run over to Sasuke, grabbing his arm and trying to pull him up.

"Come on, Uchiha, this battle isn't finished and we have to protect Tazuna," I whispered harshly. He blinked up at me and nodded, coming out of his stupor. I got Sakura up and in front of Tazuna while Sasuke assembled Naruto. Soon, Tazuna was once again protected.

"Hey, you alright, Bridge Builder?" I whispered worriedly. The man nodded, his eyes trained on me.

"You…you saved me," he muttered. I grinned and bobbed my head up and down, flashing a peace sign.

"Of course I did! It's our job. Besides…" I whispered, changing my playful attitude into one of complete seriousness. "I don't like the idea of some kid losing his granddad because we were too scared to do anything. We're here for you, Tazuna, and we will do whatever it takes to keep you safe."

The other three nodded in unison until Naruto grinned his foxy grin and hugged me. "That was awesome, Kay-chan!"

My face heated up and I smiled modestly with a shrug. "Eh, it wasn't anything too flashy…"

"Nice try, but I'm not that easy to fool," Zabuza declared and I turned my attention back to the fight. My eyes narrowed at the sight of another Momochi appearing behind Kakashi. The Team Seven leader stabbed the ex-Mist Nin in front of him, reverting it back into water. Zabuza swung his sword skillfully and Kakashi ducked to avoid it's sharp blade. The large weapon made a large gash in the ground as it made contact, but all Zabuza did was twirl around and put his weight on the sword, lifting his leg in the air, and kicked Kakashi into the air. The Jounin landed in the water with a splash and Zabuza followed, only to stop when he was the spikes Kakashi had let out. I bit my lip.

"Damn, he found the trap…" I muttered under my breath. Zabuza back flipped into the water and all was still, making my nerves fizzle. Suddenly, I saw Kakashi sensei get trapped into a sphere of dark blue water. It looked dense.

"Oh no!"

One of Zabuza's hands were in the prison, keeping it in place as he turned to us, telling Kakashi that he has to 'exterminate' us. I huffed.

"You make it sound like we'll bend over and die," I commented coolly. He eyed me with amusement and interest before making the hand sign to create clones. I kept my shock hidden that he could perform a jutsu with one hand.

"You don't deserve to be called ninja! When you hover between living and dying so many times it does nothing to you, than you may be called ninja. But to call upstarts like you ninja…is a joke."

He disappeared again, swallowed by the mist, and I swore. With a small noise, he appeared and kicked Naruto back, sending his headband flying. I gasped before facing the now revealed Zabuza angrily. I turned to Sakura, who was a few feet away from me. We had spread out when Kakashi had been caught, giving each other room.

"Hide Tazuna, got it?" I demanded. She looked at me for a second before nodding and grabbing Tazuna's hand, dragging him into the forest. Zabuza made a move to go after them until I tossed a kunai over to him, moving so fast it went unnoticed by him until it cut his cheek. He blinked for a second before turning his attention to me. His foot was placed over Naruto's headband and a smirk appeared on his face.

"Get the bridge builder and run! You can't win this fight!" Kakashi ordered from his prison; his voice was slightly muffled by the water. "He's using everything he has to keep me here. If you run, he can only follow you so far with his clone!"

I glared at him viciously, taking my attention off Zabuza for a moment. "Run away? Not going to happen, Kakashi. No matter what, he will track us down and wipe us out. Sorry, but we aren't leaving you and we aren't running away; not now, not ever."

I turned back to Zabuza only to see him holding Sasuke up by his throat. My eyes widened as he threw the boy to the ground, sending him skidding back. Zabuza, ignoring me, turned to the frightened Naruto as Sakura called out to Sasuke. I watched as Naruto went to turn around, but caught sight of his bandaged hand. I already knew what was going through his head and my eyes softened. His oath of pain, to never run away and let someone else save him, was still clear in my mind too. Naruto stood up and glared at Zabuza before rushing forward.

"Naruto, no!" Kakashi yelled, but the orange ninja paid no heed.

"Aaah, Naruto, what are you thinking?!" Sakura cried. I just realized that she and Tazuna were back in the clearing. I sighed.

_I ask her to do _one _simple thing,_ I thought, aggravated. But as I turned my attention back to Naruto and Zabuza, I saw what the blonde idiot was up to. Before being thrown backwards, he grasped his headband. When he ended up by his teammates, Sakura scolded him for what he had attempted to do. I very nearly lost it, but Naruto came to before I could. He stood up, tied his headband around his forehead and turned to Zabuza.

"Put this in your BINGO book; there's a ninja in the Hidden Leaf who never backs down. His name is Naruto Uzumaki!"

I saw the dork converse with Sasuke and decided to take my chance on the distracted Zabuza. I placed my hands together and allowed four shadow clones to appear on either side of me. The man turned to me, finally, and scoffed, swinging his sword through each one of us. But I smirked and all of them disappeared. Looking through the leaves of the tree I was hiding in, I saw Zabuza's clone searching for me, but I wasn't about to fight his stupid clone. I jumped from the branch and over to Kakashi's prison, towards the real one. I knew I had no chance, but I knew Sasuke and Naruto were making a plan and I needed to get Zabuza's attention off of them and onto me. I looked at the shocked boys out of the corner of my eye and winked before taking a breath and jumping up. I landed on top of the large sphere, smiling down at Zabuza before ducking to avoid his clone's sword.

"Very good, but…" I said before bringing my leg up with Lee-style speed and kicking the man in the jaw. "Not good enough."

He didn't remove his hand from the prison but his eyes flared angrily as blood seeped out of the corner of his mouth. I landed on the water softly, standing on it just like him with my arms crossed. I was much more skilled than most people knew and it was being used to my advantage here. He was shocked I could move so fast and walk on water, but soon, he created the same hand signs as he did for Kakashi. I didn't flinch as I joined Kakashi in his prison bubble thing. This was exactly what I wanted; the others had time to talk through their plan, so now it was time to use it. I held my breath, trying to keep the water from leaking into my lungs. Kakashi had made some kind of jutsu for him self to keep the water at bay, but I couldn't, therefore I probably wouldn't be able to last too long. Kakashi made sure I was farther away from Zabuza.

"The mission is not to test how brave you are! It's to protect the Bridge Builder! Stay. On. Mission!" Kakashi ordered. I felt the edges of my thoughts becoming hazy as lack of oxygen began to take its toll on me. Naruto turned to Tazuna.

"Bridge Builder?"

"This all happened because of me and my desire to live…I will not let that stand in your way now. Go and save your sensei and friend!" he announced. I grinned happily and waved to the others from my spot, earning a worried look from them. If I could've, I would've sighed.

My thoughts were becoming more hazy and disorientated as Kakashi and Zabuza began to explain the examinations for becoming Genin in the Mist. All I remember was that Zabuza had killed every last student with his own hands and liked it. My mind came back into a little sharper focus when Zabuza attacked Sasuke, sending him to the ground on his back. With his elbow, Zabuza bashed Sasuke into the ground hard, earning yells from the young Uchiha. He stepped on his stomach and pushed down until Naruto caught his attention. I wasn't exactly sure what happened next besides that a large wind shruiken came flying towards the real Zabuza. He caught it easily with his unoccupied hand and I sweat dropped.

_That was their plan? Well…this was a rip-off._

But my opinion changed when another shruiken came flying towards him. He jumped over it and the weapon went twirling behind him. I saw Sasuke smirk and wondered why, until the second weapon turned into Naruto with a puff of smoke. My eyes widened and I grinned as he threw a kunai at Zabuza, who had no choice but to remove his hand from the sphere of water. But as I saw the kunai head towards Zabuza, my mind became foggy and my lungs began to scream in pain from not breathing. I opened my mouth, only to fell a rush of water entered it and slid down into my awaiting lungs. I hardly felt it when the water prison was released, sending me into the lake below.


	5. Making Friends and Confessions

**A/N: whoa, two chapters in one day! Yay! I had inspiration. Anyways, you learn about Kaiya's past in this one! TA-DA!**

**I do NOT own Naruto. I believe it's pretty obvious seeing as Deidara is dead and Sasuke has yet to return to the village. (sob)**

Chapter Five: Making Friends and Confessions

"Is she alive?"

"Of course she's alive, Inari!"

"Well, she's been…not awake for a few days now…"

"Shut up, brat; Kay-chan will be fine!"

I squeezed my eyelids tighter, trying to ignore the voices that hovered around my head. Which, if anyone cares, felt as if someone had used it as a nutcracker; I winced. It wasn't for another few minutes until I realized that I was laying on something soft and comfy with a warm blanket covering me up. It was odd and I began to finally wonder where the heck I was. When no answer came to me, I groaned and allowed my purple eyes to flutter open, only to be met with two wide, worried blue orbs. I yelped and nearly fell off the bed if Naruto hadn't caught me.

"Geez, Naruto!" I said weakly, holding my hand to my chest to calm the rapidly beating heart within. My friend looked at my face anxiously before throwing his self on top of me, squeezing my body tightly. I blinked a few times before remembering why I was asleep. Or, well, unconscious. A pout crossed my features.

"Stupid Zabuza…" I muttered angrily. Naruto laughed and pulled away, smiling widely at me. I grinned back.

"I was so worried about you, Kay-chan!" he cried out sadly. I scoffed, crossing my arms and turning my happy grin into a make-believe cocky one.

"Psh, you think that would've killed me? Aw, you underestimate me, Naruto."

My friend laughed again before hopping off the bed and running out of the room I was in. Turning my head to the side, I noticed two people there, one a woman and the other a little boy. I smiled at them kindly.

"Hiya, I'm—"

"KAIYA!" I turned my head to the door, only to get attacked by something pink. I yelped for the second time that morning before smiling and hugging Sakura back.

"Hey, Sakura, what's up?"

"How are you? Are you okay? Are you in any pain at all? Let me see—" She continued to fire off rambling questions, leaving no room for me to interject between each new one she threw at me. All I could do was sit there and listen, waiting for my moment to answer her. I saw Naruto standing in the doorway, talking to the woman and little boy happily. But my brow creased and a frown replaced my smile as the little boy said something and marched out of the room angrily.

"Eh? What's wrong with him?" I asked Sakura curiously. Her own happiness seemed to fade for a moment before she grinned again. But, being the master at it, I noticed it was a fake smile.

"Oh, it's nothing! He's just touchy about us being here is all," she tried to assure me. I appraised Sakura before sighing and shrugging, letting the matter go for now. With a swing of my legs, I was standing up and out of bed. It wasn't until I saw Naruto blush that I realized I was only wearing a long, white T-shirt. I quickly scrambled back into the bed and threw my pillow at the male, a blush chalking up my features.

"Get out so I can get dressed!" I yelled in embarrassment. He nodded and left the room quickly, closing the door behind him. I sighed and got up again, searching for my training clothes. With a swift look around the small square room, I saw nothing beside a knee-length blue kimono with a silver swirl pattern. Then it hit me.

"Oh no…am I, uh, supposed to wear that?" I demanded, pointing at the kimono. Sakura smiled apologetically before grabbing off of the hanger it was on and handing it to me.

"Sorry, but your clothes were bloody and dirty," she explained. I frowned, trying to think back to when I had been bleeding. Sensing my confusion, Sakura smiled. "It happened after you became unconscious."

My mouth formed an 'O' shape and I nodded, grabbing the garment reluctantly. Sakura left me to my privacy and I got dressed quickly, slipping into the velvet outfit smoothly. I looked in the body sized mirror on the back of the door, staring at myself critically. It seemed a little tight in the waist seeing as it clung to it like glue. I had the same problem with the chest area and I didn't like it. I brought my hand to my chin and scratched it, thinking.

_Maybe it's supposed to be like this?_ I thought curiously. I had never worn a kimono before, so I couldn't be sure, but it seemed like a good reason as to why it fit so snugly in those areas. Spotting the white slippers by the bed, I slipped into them and looked back in the mirror. I frowned, pulling at a strand of my knotted hair. Grasping the brush on the only dresser, I began to work through my hair calmly, getting out all of the knots. Soon, my sandy-brown hair was brushed and cascaded down my back serenely and, thinking I was now presentable, I opened the door and walked out casually. Naruto and Sakura were sitting at the dining room table in the small house, talking. Or, well, more like arguing on Sakura's part.

"Did you ask her out…again?" I asked from the doorway. The two Genins looked up at me and stared, not answering my question. I tugged at a strand of my hair self-consciously, twirling it around my finger nonchalantly. I looked down at my outfit, wondering if I was missing something.

"Do I really look that bad?" I asked, pulling at the hem of the kimono. Naruto shook out of his stupor and grinned widely, giving me a thumbs up.

"No way! You look totally hot, Kay-chan!"

I felt myself blush a dark red and I turned away shyly, staring at nothing in particular. I didn't get compliments that had to do with beauty that often, seeing as I didn't spend so much time on it. I got compliments for being strong and quick-witted, not for being pretty. Spotting the couch, I waltzed over and plopped down, crossing my legs calmly while staring at the T.V. The little boy was sitting on the other side of the couch, staring at me with wide eyes. I smiled at him kindly, causing him to blush and turn away. I snickered.

"Hi, I'm Kaiya," I greeted, holding out my hand. The little boy looked at it for a second before grasping it in his own, shaking it softly. I finally got a good look at him. He wore a yellow hat with a teal stripe that went through the middle of it. It was a little big on him, so it kind of overshadowed his large brown eyes. He had overalls on and his brown hair sprouted out from under the hat. All in all, he was pretty adorable.

"I'm Inari," he introduced quietly. I grinned wider.

"Nice to meet you Inari," I laughed freely. He was just too kawaii and I couldn't help but giggle at his shyness. I turned back to the T.V., hoping to relieve the blushing kid of any more embarrassment. Sakura joined us calmly as Naruto ran out the door, saying something about Kakashi and Sasuke. I looked around, just noticing their absence.

"So, where are they anyway?" I asked. Sakura yawned widely, covering her mouth with her hand.

"They went into town. I went with Sasuke yesterday, but last night you're fever got higher, so I decided to stay with you."

I blinked a few times in shock before smiling gigantically.

"You didn't have to do that, Sakura!" I admonished with a few waves of my hand. She smiled back at me but didn't say anything and so we turned out attention to the T.V. once again. I'm not sure how long we three sat there, but what felt like no time, Naruto came barging back into the house, looking flustered. I shot up worriedly, thinking Zabuza had returned, but he just grinned at me and pointed.

"See?! She's awake!"

I blinked before glaring and whacking his blonde head, sending him face-planting into the ground.

"Naruto, don't do that! I thought something had happened, you dobe!" I cried out before leaning against the wall casually. The door was pushed aside as two people followed the now swirly-eyed Naruto. Recognizing the two faces, I grinned and waved.

"What's up?" I inquired. Kakashi smiled under his blue mask and walked over, feeling my forehead. I huffed, but didn't do anything even though I knew I was fine. He removed his hand and gave me a one-armed hug, seeing as his other arm was occupied with a few bags.

"It's nice to see you've got your…er…_spunk_ back, Kaiya," he said, glancing down at Naruto. I smiled happily before turning to Sasuke. He was staring at me just like Naruto and Sakura had been; only I noticed he was breathing slightly heavier. I stared down at my kimono, once again, but saw nothing the matter. I twirled a piece of hair around my finger self-consciously as I crossed one of my arms across my chest, trying to hide the tight fit there. My crush was growing, seeing as I actually cared what he thought of my outfit, and I didn't like it one bit. When you love someone or even like them in that way, they have the power to crush you. They have the power to completely destroy you from your inside out. And it was a scary concept.

I sighed impatiently. "What? Why are you staring at me?"

He shook his head slightly and stared at my face, his emotionless mask once again on. "Hn, don't flatter yourself. I wasn't staring because of how you look."

I glared viciously, only vaguely feeling the small chip that put in my self-confidence.

"I didn't say you were teme. But you were staring at me and it's annoying. And how would you staring at me be flattering in any way? It's just disturbing."

Sasuke narrowed his eyes as I glared; you could practically see the sparks between us. After a few seconds of glaring, I rolled my eyes and walked past the avenger, heading outside.

"K-Kaiya, where are you going?" Inari asked from the couch. I stopped in my tracks and turned to the little boy, smiling widely.

"I'm going to go and look around the town. Would you like to come? If that's okay with your mom, of course," I added. His face brightened slightly and he jumped off the couch, running into the kitchen. Naruto gaped at me, shocked, as did Sakura. Kakashi and Sasuke simply raised a single eyebrow at me.

"What?" I demanded. Naruto began to sputter, so Sakura covered his mouth and turned to me.

"What he's trying to say is none of us have even been able to talk to Inari. Well, not civilly, at least," she explained, her voice calm and curious. I nodded and began to think on it when Kakashi shrugged.

"Have fun, but be careful, Kaiya. There are some dangerous characters out there," he warned casually. I gave a one-armed shrug before smiling at Inari as he ran over to me, slipping on a pair of sandals.

"M-Kay, I'm ready!" he declared. I smiled and stuck out my hand, letting him grasp it firmly before walking out the door. I noticed the blush on his little cheeks when he grabbed my hand, but pushed it aside as I struck up a conversation with him.

"So, Inari, has your grandfather told you about our fight with Zabuza?" I asked him calmly. The little boy's cheery outlook seemed to darken as he gave a small nod and I frowned. "You don't like us fighting this…well, this whole thing, do you?...Gato and his cronies, I mean."

Inari shook his head and I nodded, waiting for him to elaborate. A few minutes of silence passed, he finally looked up from the sidewalk and at me.

"You shouldn't fight him. You'll only end up dead," he muttered. I blinked in shock, staring at the little boy for a moment. As I looked in his eyes, I saw a deep sadness that I knew all too well. My eyes softened and I smiled sadly.

"You've lost someone." It wasn't a question.

And Inari didn't answer. I looked up at the sky, smiling at the clouds and the sun.

"Inari, did you know my family was killed when I was about your age? Maybe even younger," I told him suddenly. His head shot up, staring at me with wide eyes.

"Your w-whole family?"

"Yep, all of them…well, besides me, obviously. I remember running away because the man who killed them was after me. I ran and ran and ran, but it seemed like he kept catching up to me. Eventually, I landed by the Leaf Village and the people there took me in. The very first friend I ever made there was none other than the number one hyper-active knuckleheaded ninja in all of Konoha: Naruto Uzumaki."

I laughed softly at the memory of meeting a small boy with electric blonde hair.

_--_

_"H-Hey, stop it! Give it back!" _

_My small eight-year-old ears picked up a sound coming from the playground nearby. I changed my course and headed towards the spot, my curiosity sparked. I past numerous villagers who smiled at me and waved, but I only nodded back. They weren't really happy to see me; they felt pity towards me. Nothing, but pity and sympathy; it was disgusting. I didn't need those two things. When I finally reached the playground, I saw four boys, three of them throwing a ball between themselves. The fourth boy was trying to get it back, his blonde hair and blue eyes sticking out among the dark-haired kids. I noticed, out of the corner of my small eye, another young boy on the boardwalk, his feet dangling over the edge. I knew his last name. Uchiha. _

_But I turned my attention back to the matter at hand and marched over, my face set into a determined scowl._

_"Pardon me, but what's going on?" I asked politely, despite my face. The three boys throwing the ball turned to me and smiled._

_"Hi Kaiya, want to play?" one asked. I wasn't sure how they knew my name, but I didn't really care; I only had eyes for the small boy still trying to reach for the ball. I could tell he was trying not to cry by the way his eyes shined desperately. I grinned at the boys and nodded, so the one with the ball threw it over to me. Instead of continuing their stupid game of 'keep-away-from-Kyuubi' even though they didn't know he was the Kyuubi, I walked over to him and smiled widely, handing the ball over._

_"Here ya go!" I stated, making sure he got a good grip on the ball. His cerulean eyes blinked at me, shocked, but I had turned to the other boys, glaring angrily._

_"You…guys…are…JERKS!" I yelled before bonking each one on the head. They all lay on the ground, their eyes replaced with X's and I smiled, wiping my hands in a satisfied manner. I looked around at the rest of the kids on the ground who did nothing to help the poor boy. I glared._

_"Anyone else want to mess with…uhm…" I mumbled, turning to the boy curiously. "Sorry, I didn't catch your name."_

_He murmured a response but I couldn't hear it, so I smiled and leaned forward. He blushed. "You're going to have to speak louder. I'm afraid I didn't hear you."_

_"Uh…I'm Naruto," he repeated, a tiny bit louder. I smiled, standing up straight and turning to the other kids, glaring again._

_"Ok, anyone else want to mess with Naruto? If so, you'll be answering to me," I warned them, holding up one fist and nodding down at the three boys with X's for eyes. The children shook their heads in unison, so I grinned._

_"That's what I thought."_

_With that said I turned to Naruto and grinned, holding out my hand. "Hiya Naruto, I'm Kaiya Hakura!"_

_He grabbed my hand hesitantly. "Naruto Uzumaki."_

_"Hm…Naruto Uzumaki, you say? Oh my goodness, I know you!" I cried out, pointing. He stared at me for a second, scared, but I just smiled and grabbed his hand, leading him away from the kids at the playground. We walked down to the boardwalk and I waved at the Uchiha kid happily, who just raised a brow and turned back to staring at the water. I frowned but soon grinned again, turned back to the perplexed Naruto._

_"You do?"_

_"Mm-hm, of course! You're destined to be my best friend!" I told him happily. He blinked before allowing a small smile to break out on his face, which quickly turned into a full-blown grin. He poked me and ran away, laughing over his shoulder, "Tag, you're it!" _

_I giggled and chased after the boy happily, tripping a few times, causing Naruto to laugh at me. I pouted and he'd come over to make sure I was okay and I'd poke him before taking off in another direction, giggling as he glared playfully at me, than chased me hurriedly._

_--_

"You see, Naruto didn't even know his parents. They died when he was born, and all of the villagers hated him, so he was all alone," I whispered to Inari. The little boy was staring ahead, wide-eyed with the current information. I released a silent sigh, thinking how much we both had actually changed. He became more rebellious and more of a tough-guy, where as I actually managed to grow up, if only a little bit.

"I didn't know that…" Inari whispered after a while. I smiled down at him, ruffling his hair.

"How could you? He doesn't like to talk about it much, but I can tell it still hurts him. I'm not going to ask you to tell me who you lost to Gato or anything, Inari, but I want you to know that you aren't alone. You have your grandpa and your mother and the rest of your family! Plus, you have Kakashi, Sakura, Naruto, and me too! Oh, and Sasuke. I forgot the teme for a second," I muttered with a scowl. Inari stared up at me, watery eyed, before nodding in understanding. I grinned and grabbed his hand tighter before running into the town with a shock Inari clutching my hand tightly. We walked around the town, talking to people Inari knew and those who owned the shops.

"Mmm…food!" I mumbled happily, chewing on a large cookie I had bought in a bakery. It was soft and chewy and had gooey chocolate chips in it that melted in my mouth.

Ah, it was heaven!

I smiled down at Inari and laughed happily. He laughed too, eating his own cookie pleasurably. We were heading back to the house, both of us carrying about four bags of things. I had managed to find some money in the pocket of the kimono along with a note saying to have fun with money. I wasn't sure who gave it to me, but I guessed it was Inari's mom. When we entered the house, I saw the ninja's in the family room, sitting in a triangle-circle thing while the actual family was in the dining room. I gave Inari a small kiss on the cheek and walked over to the ninja's, smiling widely.

"Hiya, what'd you guys do today?" I asked, sitting down next to Naruto. He immediately dove into one of my bags, searching for something sweet to eat. I yawned widely.

"Trained, basically," Sakura stated. I ran a hand through my hair, looking at Kakashi.

"Why didn't you tell me? I would've gone with you guys instead of out on the town," I stated. Naruto poked my cheek.

"No you wouldn't have."

I stuck out my tongue at him, but turned to Kakashi, who smiled. "You just woke up, Kaiya. You are in no shape to train right now. Besides, you look like you had fun today."

I grinned widely and nodded my head vigorously. "I did. Inari's such a sweet kid and I think we can understand what he's been through a little better than most people. I suspect you all already know?"

The others nodded, except Sasuke who just shrugged. I stared at the ground for a second before telling Naruto what I had told Inari today. "I told him about when I saved you from the mean playground kids."

The blonde ninja snickered under his breath, but still looked a little tenser at the mention of his bad childhood. "Wonder whatever happened to them?"

I shrugged my shoulders, playing with the hem of my kimono distractedly. Why is that I can get through to Naruto and Inari, but I can't get through to Sasuke? It's like he's on a totally different planet where I can't reach him and I'm afraid if I don't soon, he may be too far gone to get back. I shivered at the thought of losing him. And I don't mean that in an 'Oh, Sasuke, I will DIE without you' way, just that he's still a friend of mine. Even though he's a jerk sometimes, he's still a human being who's had a rough past. But no matter what I did, I could never get through to him and that was even scarier than falling for him. I stood up abruptly, grabbing one of my bags and heading towards the door.

"Kay-chan, where are you going now?" Naruto whined. I turned around and smiled at him smally.

"I'm just going to go and sit outside for a while. Clear my head, ya know?" I stated, pushing aside the door and walking out into the fresh air. It had gotten dark when Inari and I came home, but now it was pitch black with little sparkling stars lighting the way. I slung the bag over my shoulder and walked towards the forest, searching for a small clearing of some sort. I needed to think for a little while, to just clear my head and get my jumbled up thoughts together.

I was constantly on edge since I'd woken up this morning, worrying about Zabuza, even though he was apparently dead, according to what Inari had told me on our trip into town. And though I wanted to believe he was dead, I have a hard doing it; there was just something not right. Then there's this Gato character who still wanted Tazuna dead, which put him and his family in dire trouble. Not to mention the fact that I was missing Shikamaru terribly, what with his sarcasm and sexism and the fact that he'd be able to help me un-jumble my thoughts.

"Gah, I need to just stop thinking altogether!" I cried out, rubbing my temples slowly. After walking in the forest for five minutes, I finally came up to a small clearing with a babbling brook. The trees were swaying in the light breeze, some of the leaves letting go and twirling around in some kind of elegant dance that only leaves can do. I sat down on the ground, staring up at the star-full sky while eating a few of my snacks every now and again. My mind only began to go into overdrive again when I heard twigs snapping behind me. I shot up, searching for a weapon in the clearing seeing as I had forgotten my weapons pouch at the house. I got into position and was ready to fight when Sasuke walked into the clearing. He raised a slender black brow at my position and I sighed, relaxing before folding back on to the ground calmly.

"Hey Sasuke, what's up?"

He just shrugged and stuffed his hands into his pockets, staring up at the sky. His face creased as he glared angrily and I sighed, already knowing what he was thinking about.

"You're thinking about Itachi again, aren't you?" I asked with a tilt of my head. He glared at me viciously, but I was unfazed; we both knew I was right.

"Spare me the 'forget revenge' speech, Kaiya. I've heard from enough people," he snapped. I shook my head and lay down in the grass, crossing my legs at the ankle.

"Who said anything about forgetting revenge? I was simply stating a fact. And…" I hesitated for a second before taking a deep breath. I was hoping this would work and if it didn't, than that would suck. "And, well, I just wanted you to know that you aren't alone. I understand your—"

That did it.

"What the hell do you know? You have _no idea_ what it's like to have everything you loved taken away from you! How the hell can you sit there and tell me that you understand when you don't?! I'm so sick of everyone saying that they understand what I'm going through and that revenge isn't the way to go! Damn it, I wish that everyone could just leave me alone! I don't need your fucking sympathy or pity, got that? So you can just LEAVE ME THE HELL ALONE!"

I watched as he breathed heavily, his rant finally over with. His eyes were flaming with rage and his face was set in a terrifying glare. But I still acted as calm as ever, waiting for him to calm down a little. I really hoped he wouldn't leave because I needed to explain why I understood. Of course, if he did leave, that would just ruin everything and I'd have to go tackle him so that he would listen to me.

_Complications, complications,_ I thought. Sasuke turned his back to me, stuffing his hands back into his pockets and turned his glare up to the sky. I waited a few more minutes before sighing.

"You know, my mom used to have a spot like this in our backyard. Of course, it was a little more barren, seeing as it was so close to the Land of Earth. But it was still nice," I started abruptly, not taking my eyes off the sky. I was aware that Sasuke was now watching me, but I pretended not to notice. "When I was little, like really little, I lived in a small village just out side the Village Hidden in the Stones. It was a pretty poor village, nothing to fancy, but it was still nice. Everyone couple weeks we'd go to Iwagakure and trade goods, get money, things like that. I actually met a man named Deidara once; he was cool, I liked him. He visited me a few times, but I heard after I left, he disappeared. Anyway, we were in the village one day, trading our medicines for some food."

_--_

_"Come on, Kaiya!" my mother urged, carrying our jars of special medicines. Father was off, trading his weapons for some money as my mother and I were going to sell the medications and herbs for food. The market was packed and heavily populated with booths and wagons and animals and people, all of whom I usually saw every month. I waved my small hand at a cabbage merchant who had given me three heads of lettuce when we needed to extra food. My mother began to set up her booth near a man selling snake skins and potions. I was too busy helping mother to notice him staring at me from the corner of his yellow eyes. _

_"Mother, how long do you think it will take to sell everything? I'm already bored!" I complained with a pout. She smiled down at me and ruffled my sandy-brown hair lovingly. _

_"Hopefully not long, but I don't know. Why don't you go look for Deidara?" she suggested. My eyes lit up and I nodded before skipping off, waving at her cheerfully. As I skipped through the town, I smiled at people I had met before at the market. Many of them stopped to say hi and tell me how much I had grown since last month. _

_"My, my, Kaiya Hakura, look at you! You've—"_

_"Grown?" I finished with a yawn. It was getting really annoying, but I was still trying to seem polite, so as not to anger my mom. The elder woman smiled and nodded, her rotten teeth showing. I smiled back weakly, a bit disheartened by the fact that I had yet to find Deidara. I left the old woman and walked down the street, dragging my feet slowly. My head was bowed, my eyes locked on the pavement underneath me until I rounded a corner and bumped into someone. I stepped back, blinking in shock before looking up at the person I bumped into._

_"Well, if it isn't little Kai, un," Deidara said with a smile. I grinned and wrapped my tiny arms around his waist, hugging him._

_"Dei-kun! You didn't come to visit me last week," I pouted. He laughed and hugged me back, letting the mouth on his hand lick my cheek. I giggled and held on to his hand, letting him walk me back towards the market place._

_"Sorry Kai, I had some people I needed to see, un. You shouldn't have travelled so far from the market place," he chided gently. I rolled my eyes and stuck out my tongue before skipping ahead slightly. I heard him chuckle behind me but I paid no attention as the noises of the market reached me. I ran over to my mom, making sure that Deidara was still behind me, and found her chatting with a man. His long, black hair cascaded down his back and looked rather thin as it swayed from side to side with each movement. His skin was pale as bone and there were purple markings under his slanted, yellow eyes that went down the bridge of his nose. I felt myself slow down, eyeing the man suspiciously. There was something not quite right about him, but I pushed away the feeling and smiled largely._

_"Hi, I'm Kaiya!" I greeted excitedly. My mother laughed and continued to sell our supplies as the older man chuckled._

_"Hello Kaiya, I'm Orochimaru," he introduced with a slight bow. His voice was sleek and smooth, but sounded as if there was some kind of hidden agenda behind his current purposes. Deidara came up behind me and placed one hand on each of my shoulders, pulling me closer to him. _

_"Dei-kun, this Oro—Orch—uhm…" I muttered._

_"Orochimaru," Deidara finished. I beamed and tilted my head back to smile at Deidara. But than I quirked an eyebrow and looked from one man to the other. _

_"Have you already met?" _

_"Once or twice," Orochimaru confirmed with a smile. I looked at the two men before shrugging and hopping over to help my mother with her supplies. I grabbed the food we had gained and placed it in a brown basket already half-way full of delicious looking and smelling food. For the rest of the day, I helped mother with the trade and getting our newly acquired things together. Every now and again I would glance over at Dei-kun and Orochimaru, only to see them arguing or glaring. Of course, Orochimaru seemed pretty calm although I could detect some kind of angry spark in his yellow eyes. Finally, after we had sold everything, we walked to the path and position ourselves in the direction of our village. I turned around and smiled up at Deidara. _

_"You'll come and visit, right?" I pleaded, giving him my best puppy-dog-eyes. For some reason, I noticed that Deidara looked a little sad, but he quickly smiled._

_"Of course, un," he assured. I grinned wider and hugged him tightly. He gave me a hug back and a small kiss on the top of my head. Orochimaru was coming with us, to stay for the night because the hotels were all booked, so I waved goodbye to Deidara and skipped down the path with my mom and Orochimaru. _

_/_

_"Mother? Father?" I yawned late that night. When we had gotten home, Father had already cooked dinner with the last of our food from our last trip to the market and so we had eaten, than went to bed. Orochimaru was staying in the guest bedroom and had been in there since dinner was over, the door shut and locked. I had had a bad dream of snakes and monsters and blood, thus waking me up. But I found that once I had woke up, I couldn't get back to sleep, so as I laid in bed just staring out my window, I had heard a crash from downstairs. Curious, I crawled out from underneath my covers and walked down the silent stairs. The back porch light was on and I cocked my head to the side curiously, wondering why. _

_"Mother, Father?" I asked into the night, walking over to the open door. I stepped outside but soon stopped dead in my tracks. I felt something warm and thick under my barefoot and as I looked down, I saw a red liquid sitting there in a pool. I could tell from the feel and scent that it was blood; a metallic, salty scent that stung my nose. My senses had always been a bit more acute than regular people, but mostly my sense of smell was very strong. My eyes widened and I followed the trail of liquid into the forest, searching for the source. Finally, I came upon a large clearing that was bathed in moonlight. Before I even reached the actual clearing, I saw three figures there, two of which were slumped on the ground. The third was standing near them, swishing a long lethal looking silhouette around. But as I got closer, my blood ran cold and my heart nearly stopped._

_The two figures on the ground were my parents and the one standing, twirling the lethal weapon was Orochimaru. At first, I thought he had just found them. Surely, he wouldn't do something so terrible to my parents? But when I saw the blood on the blade of the weapon, a katana I now realized, I knew he was to blame. My father's eyes were half-lidded and his mouth formed one word before he left me for good: Run. _

_That's when my scream let loose. Orochimaru had already seen me before I had made the noise, but he was just waiting for me to yell. A smirk crossed his features._

_"Why?! Why did you do this? We were nothing but nice to you!" I cried, holding back my tears. I would not give him that satisfaction. _

_"Yes, that is true, child. But see, in order to get what I want, I had to get rid of my obstacles," he explained, motioning towards my now dead parents. Suddenly, I saw all around the edge of the clearing, bodies of my family. Some of them were still alive and they all mouth the same thing before leaving me all alone: Run. My mind suddenly clicked._

_"I-It's me you w-want," I whispered, terrified. The man's smirk grew even wider and he walked towards me. I took some clumsy steps back before grabbing a nearby kunai from one of my dead cousins, holding it in front of my protectively. I would not die. _

_"Leave me alone." _

_"Oh no, I can't do that," he muttered. "You see, with the strength and chakra you possess, you will be the greatest weapon for us! You have acute senses, can see things sometimes in your dreams, and can even move things with your mind if you had the discipline! And I can give that to you." _

_I stopped for a moment before continuing to back away. I wanted nothing to do with him. He killed my family and left me alone. With one mighty thrust, the kunai went flying at near invisible speed and struck the man in the stomach. Without looking back, I turned around and fled. The time from then to the Leaf Village was a large blur of colors noises and nightmares of my dead parents and family. All I remember vividly was seeing those yellow eyes and my dead family members, staring at me accusingly._

_--_

"I actually thought about, you know, taking my own life a few times on the way to the Leaf Village. Of course, I had no idea I was to end up here, but either way, I still had those thoughts. But if my family had wanted me to die, why did they tell me to run? That's when I decided I had to live. They had died protecting me and if only for them to have not died in vain, I had to survive and live a new life. Now, if I die during a mission, I'm fine with it. It would be an honorable death and I'll be able to see my family again. But I won't go looking for death. Not anytime soon, anyways," I finished, my eyes narrowed as I stared into the forest.

I tilted my head back to stare at the sky, noticing how dark it had gotten.

_How long have we been out here?_ I wondered distractedly. My mouth stretched in a yawn and I smiled, turning to look at Sasuke. He was staring at me, emotions actually managing to leak through his protective barrier. He was still guarded, but not as much as before. My smile grew as I cocked my head to the side.

"What?"

"How can you talk about your family's deaths and than be so carefree right after?" he asked quickly. I thought about it for a second and smiled again.

"Because, I know that even though I can't see my family, they're watching over me. Also, I'm not alone anymore. Sure, my family is still gone, but now I have a new one. I have Naruto and Kakashi and Sakura and Taru and Shugo and Himiko and Shikamaru and the Nara's and…" I hesitated for a moment before grinning. "Well, you. You know, I'm not going to say revenge isn't the right way to go because nobody can tell you which to go. But you really need to know something, Sasuke."

I stood up and brushed off my kimono, vaguely aware that my butt was completely numb.

"You aren't alone either. Whether or not you choose to embrace that fact is completely up to you."

I gave him one last smile before heading back to the house, my arms crossed behind my head leisurely. Unfortunately, before I even left the clearing, an upturned root tripped me and I fell to the ground with a grunt. Almost instantly, I was back on my feet.

"Damn, I was hoping that wouldn't happen," I muttered angrily, glaring down at the root before huffing and heading off, hearing Sasuke call me a klutz. I turned around and stuck out my tongue before continuing on, hearing him follow behind.

"You should really watch where you're going," he told me calmly. I rolled my eyes and turned my head to face him, continuing to walk forward.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, believe it or not, I do. It's just the things I run into that don't watch where—"

I was cut off when I rammed into a tree.

"DAMN IT!"


End file.
